Neoliberal Poverty Alleviation: Poverty in the Fence and the Rush of Pity

Author

Dtepartment of Social Sciences Education, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran.

10.22059/jrd.2024.379054.668867

Abstract

The term “neoliberal poverty alleviation” denotes the state’s abandonment of its social obligations and its disregard for the structures that promote poverty. The present study in the case study of Ilam and Lorestan provinces, which examined the multiplicity of charities, foundations, and their poverty alleviation efforts, is considered problematic due to the increasing spread of poverty.
This was done using a Multi-Sited Ethnography method. The research findings are categorized into 12 main themes, including exaggeration, identity formation, inclusion in culture, disorganization of the good deeds, disillusionment with the good deeds, ignoring the structures that cause poverty, changing agency, threshold decency, consumerism, reconfiguration of solidarity, shame, and the rule of stereotypes.
The overarching theme is poverty in the fence and the rush of pity. The research findings suggest that poverty alleviation efforts in the study area can be interpreted through two narratives: “romantic,” which pertains to activists in the field of good deeds, and “tragic,” which pertains to the narrative of the target community and key informants. The lack of professional protocols and the entanglement of structural factors that create poverty have prevented foundations and charities from empowering the poor, despite their humanitarian intentions. This has resulted in a situation of “disorganization of the good deeds,” which contributes to “disillusionment with the good deeds.” Lastly, they contribute to the development of a consumerist identity by incorporating the impoverished into a “framework and position” by “threshing down decency” and erasing the identity of the hard worker. This denies the impoverished the opportunity to engage in activism and creates the conditions for them to remain in the poverty trap by enclosing them in the fence and the rush of pity, neglecting the underlying structures that cause poverty, and providing the context for altering agency and dependence.

Keywords

References

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