Examining the Value of Solidarity as a Moral Foundation for Poverty Alleviation

Living in the first world poses significant moral challenges for people who are concerned about global justice. On the one hand, the wealthiest 20 percent of the world’s population consume 76.6 percent of the world’s resources, while the world’s poorest 20 percent are left with 1.5 percent. 1 From this perspective, the consumer lifestyles of citizens of the global North are the culprit behind climate change and rampant environmental destruction around the world. On the other hand, the nature of capitalism itself makes it difficult for many people in the first world to exercise their moral agency in ways that challenge the dominant logic of the global political economy. For many people, simply providing for the necessities of food, water, clothing, and shelter require some amount of participation in an economic system of which one might not approve. While there are people and communities that have moved “off the grid” and are able to function outside the dominant economic system of global market capitalism, this choice is not a viable option for many people in the first world. Even more importantly, stepping outside the dominant system does nothing to challenge the injustice of the system itself. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.