Elite Perceptions of Poverty and Inequality

The researchers who have written this volume are clear not only that mass poverty is still the leading humanitarian crisis in developing countries, but that, if effective policies are to be put in place, the national elites who control governments and economies need to be convinced of both the reasons why reducing poverty is in their own and the national interest, and that public action can make a difference. Remarkably, in the rapidly growing literature on poverty, this volume is the first to use survey techniques to explore Third World elites' attitudes to poverty. Five cases - intended to be broadly representative of the diversity of situations in developing countries - were chosen: Brazil, South Africa, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Haiti. While the authors found major differences in how national elites understand and represent poverty, the classic threats that induced elites in late 19th Century Europe to be concerned with reducing poverty - the fear of crime, epidemics, military weakness or political unrest - do not feature prominently in the consciousness of most Third World elites. Nor do most of them believe that there is a viable solution to poverty through public action. The findings in this book throw light on one reason for the relative ineffectiveness of poverty reduction strategies hitherto, and the huge importance of presenting the problem of poverty in ways that fit more closely with the ways in which national elites understand their world.

Elisa P. Reis is professor of political sociology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, chair of the Brazilian Interdisciplinary Research Network on Inequality (NIED) and current president of the Research Committee on Sociological Theory of the International Sociological Association. Mick Moore is currently professorial fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex; and director of the Centre for the Future State.

1. Introduction: Elites, Perceptions and Poverties - Elisa Reis and Mick Moore 2. Perceptions of Poverty and Inequality among Brazilian Elites - Elisa Reis 3. Voices from the Top of the Pile: Elite Perceptions of Poverty and the Poor in the Philippines - Gerard Clarke & Marites Sison 4. So Near and Yet So Far: Elites and Imagined Poverty in Bangladesh - Naomi Hossain and Mick Moore 5. Haitian Elites and Their Perceptions of Poverty and Inequality - Omar Ribeiro Thomaz 6. Elite Perceptions of Poverty and Poor People in South Africa - Noushin Kalati and James Manor 7. Elite Perceptions of the Poor: Reflections on a Comparative Research Project - Abram de Swaan 8. Elites, Poverty and Public Policy: From Structure to Strategy - Mick Moore and Naomi Hossain