Dinamiche di povertŕ e agency

Abstract

- This focus of this article is the inter-relationship between structure and agency in understanding the dynamics of poverty. The article begins with some general reflections on the nature of agency, its relationship to structure, and models of agency in the context of poverty. It then outlines a resources or assets-based model, drawing in particular on the international development literature on livelihoods. This is followed by a typology of agency, which situates poverty dynamics in relation to a number of different kinds of agency exercised by people living in poverty: ‘getting by' or everyday coping; ‘getting (back) at' through ‘everyday resistance'; ‘getting out' of poverty; and getting organized' to effect change. The article then focuses on "getting by" as well as ‘getting out' since the one is likely to be a prerequisite for the other. It concludes by re-affirming the need for interventions to embrace both agency and structure.