Development Anthropology and the Study of Poverty: A Note

One of the key areas of concern to development anthropologists has been the study of poverty: indeed to some people this subject is almost synonymous with development anthropology. The way the problem is seen, however, has undergone considerable changes. As a major focus of interest poverty largely dates from the works of Oscar Lewis and the subsequent ‘culture of poverty’ debate. Essentially this revolved around the legitimacy of studying poverty as, or as if it were, a culture — an integrated, self-sustaining and self-regulating lifestyle — without attention to its causes and its eradication. As a consequence of this debate interest switched to a great extent to, on the one hand, a more refined conceptualisation of the problem itself (for example the emergence of the idea of the ‘informal sector’), and on the other, the development of more rigorous explanatory models — including structural ones, Marxist theories of exploitation and alienation, and a general decline in individualist, psychological or cultural explanations of poverty. The current trend in development anthropology is undoubtedly towards an action-oriented approach: that is, seeing poverty not as something to be merely studied, but as a social evil to be eradicated.