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A concluding chapter explores the expanded mission for ethnography suggested by the preceding essays. A look at the persistence of stereotypes of the poor considers the influence of these stereotypes on the ideological foundations of government that serve to legitimize certain forms of public dominion/control, justify inequality, & reinforce exploitation of those disadvantaged by race, gender, class, or citizenship. Public beliefs that underlie the "symbolic politics of poverty" are explored to show how public identification of characteristics of the poor produces moral judgments. It is contended that the ambivalence surrounding public assistance policies reflects personal insecurity generated by a dependence on employment. Ethnography undermines the foundations for stereotypes by revealing how they serve a variety of political purposes. Suggestions are made as to how interpretive research can address political, social, & psychological strategies that safeguard the interests of some groups in society at the expense of others in order to transform discussions of the lives of the poor & move toward the democratization of poverty. 64 References. J. Lindroth

Aid effectiveness has emerged as an intensely debated issue amongst policy makers, donors, development practitioners, civil society and academics during the past decade. This debate revolves around one important question: does official development assistance complement, duplicate or disregard the local resource endowment in offering support to recipient economies? This book draws on Pakistan's experience in responding to this question with a diverse range of examples. It focuses on a central idea: no aid effectiveness without an effective receiving mechanism. Pakistan is among the top aid recipient countries in the developing economies. It was a shining model in the sixties andit ranks among the highly underperforming countries after the new millennium. This book offers an insight into the dynamics of success and failure of Pakistan in availing foreign financial and technical assistance for human development and poverty alleviation. It draws on field experiences to present case studies on water, shelter, health, education, and health and safety at work to identify the causes and consequences of aid in relation to social reality. Findings relate to developing economies and would be of interest to a wide range of individuals within the development sector.

The closing chapter in the opening section on 'The Nature of Poverty' in Poverty in Scotland 2021, the latest in a series providing an essential resource for politicians, policy makers, teachers, community activists, service providers, academics, students and all those working to end poverty. Here, we consider the causes of poverty.

The German Sociologist Ulrich Beck is best known for his book "Risk Society" which has been discussed extensively; however Beck's claims about modern poverty have not received the same attention among poverty researchers. The individualization perspective views poverty as a relatively transient phenomenon and the democratization perspective views the risk of poverty as spread equally in the population. Both perspectives challenge the mainstream tradition of class analysis, and therefore both view poverty as largely independent of traditional stratification factors. In this article, I argue that Beck's thesis about the individualization and democratization of poverty is based on narrow income based definitions and that (possible) empirical verification depends on the definitions of poverty and approaches used to examine poverty. My analyses show that the dynamic perspective (using income as measure of poverty) largely supports the democratization of poverty. But my other analyses of relative poverty and social exclusion do not support Beck's argument.