The Smithian ontology of ‘relative poverty’: revisiting the debate between Amartya Sen and Peter Townsend

Yamamori, Tōru

doi:10.1080/1350178x.2018.1561081

Cited by 14 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…The relationship between Amartya Sen's ethical universalism and non-essential ontology on identity was explored in Yamamori 2006. The concept of need in Sen was discussed in Yamamori (2018Yamamori ( , 2019, while the same concept in economics at large was explored in Yamamori (2017Yamamori ( , 2020. Yamamori 2017 also tried to examine how colonialist discourse influenced the formation of the concept of need in economics, which indirectly relates to cultural justice.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural Justice, Basic Income and the Capability Approach

Yamamori

2021

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In this paper, we elaborate on a theory of an evolutionary political economy capable of accommodating the issue of cultural justice by taking seriously the redistribution–recognition dilemma, a normative analysis of which has been put forth by Nancy Fraser. While accepting Fraser’s articulation of the dilemma, we resist her concluding that Sen’s capability approach is insensitive to cultural justice or the recognition of difference. There is no automatic guarantee, yet an intermediate theory of recognition or cultural justice could in theory be brought to bear on what is, after all, ‘a framework’. We argue that Fraser’s analysis is well suited to be such an intermediate theory, and propose a theoretical device for an evolutional perspective on redistribution and recognition. We concentrate on identifying the stage of the market process at which policy intervenes to remedy redistribution, and the stage of the communication process at which policy intervenes to remedy recognition. Interventions at the entrance stages of both processes are relatively effective and one possibility for such an intervention is to propose Basic Income, which would make it not inconsistent with the capability approach, even though this approach neither directly suggests such a policy not excludes others.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural Justice, Basic Income and the Capability Approach

Yamamori

2021

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“…In the context of this study, we focused on alleviating relative poverty by improving the self-development capacity of poor households. The effective reduction in relative poverty is not only reflected in income level above the relative poverty line but also in the reduction in deprivation felt by poor households in terms of their social life and ecological environment [82], or an increase in their sense of gain. Guided by equality and equity, poor households are feeling more benefits in all aspects, and the gap between them and other groups is narrowing [83][84][85][86].…”

Section: How Entrepreneurship Diffusion Promotes Improvements In Rela...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Alleviating Relative Poverty in Rural China through a Diffusion Schema of Returning Farmer Entrepreneurship

et al. 2023

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Addressing poverty is one of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. Alleviating relative poverty by stimulating the endogenous motivation of poor people to improve their ability for self-proliferation and diffusion is the focus of attention worldwide. China, as the world’s most populous country, has already left absolute poverty, and the vast rural areas are facing the challenge of managing relative poverty. We use the Delphi method to select three representative cases from the typical cases of rural entrepreneurship published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and describe the diffusion process and poverty reduction effect of returning farmers’ ‘entrepreneurship’ through the whole process analysis method. We found that the entrepreneurship diffusion model based on returning farmers has a bright future and great potential to improve rural poverty. Using family and local ties and the internet, returning farmers can effectively spread their entrepreneurial experience to other poor households, lowering their entrepreneurial risks and barriers, and thus collectively bringing more farmers out of poverty. The entrepreneurship diffusion of returning farmers can increase farmers’ income, promote the employment and entrepreneurship of poor households and improve the rural ecological environment, thus alleviating the multidimensional poverty of farmers in economic, social and ecological aspects. This provides an experience and reference for developing countries to solve the problems of poverty, especially poverty governance in rural areas. It is worth noting that implementing the diffusion of entrepreneurship among returning farmers requires the support of appropriate policies and the active participation of local governments.

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“…Mainstream UK social policy academics' apparent blindness to the faults of Townsend's relative definition has been noted outside the country and the discipline. When referring to reactions to a well‐known exchange between Amartya Sen and Townsend, Japanese economist Toru Yamamori (2019, p. 73) commented that “researchers sympathetic to Townsend seem uncritically to take his side”. Sen (1983, p. 156) had drawn attention to the key problem with Townsend's “purely relative” definition – that economic “gains shared by all tend to get discounted”.…”

Section: Ideology and The (Purely) Relative Definition Of Povertymentioning

confidence: 99%

Equality Street: Ideology and attitudes towards the purely relative definition of poverty

Dunn

2022

Economic Affairs

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The (purely) relative definition of poverty remains influential as an evaluative yardstick for various government policies. Left‐wing social policy scholars and anti‐poverty campaigners' strong commitment to it contrasts sharply with public attitudes. Regression models using British Social Attitudes data found that ideological orientation was the most consistently powerful predictor of how people define poverty. Evidence suggests anti‐poverty organisations' campaign failures might be due to ideological opposition or to the conceptual weakness of purely relative poverty rather than (as campaigners have claimed) ineffective campaign tactics or the influence of the mass media. Conservative politicians have little to fear in opposing the Marxist concept.

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The Smithian ontology of ‘relative poverty’: revisiting the debate between Amartya Sen and Peter Townsend

Cited by 14 publications

References 25 publications

Cultural Justice, Basic Income and the Capability Approach

Cultural Justice, Basic Income and the Capability Approach

Alleviating Relative Poverty in Rural China through a Diffusion Schema of Returning Farmer Entrepreneurship

Equality Street: Ideology and attitudes towards the purely relative definition of poverty

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