Law, Poverty &

Development

Understanding the Poverty and

development
Status Quo –Vulnerability & Poverty – ( for
instance – almost 200 million people
worldwide are homeless; lack of healthcare;
basic education and employment) (Habitat
Report)
Need of First Person narrative: Participatory
research-helpful in understanding vulnerability;
inclusion and participation.
Through participatory research one can promote
inclusion, collaboration and to recognize and
give credence to the voices of both individuals
and communities. (Goodely and Moore, 2000).
 Difficulty in defining Poverty: as in it is both
mutable and contestable; different
interpretations in different context.
Common indicators: Lack of capacity to self-
care (health and wellbeing); lack of participation
in community (social); gender; body; ethnicity;
aging etc.
Different scholars gave different parameters –
for instance Moore and Miller in 1999 work
argued vulnerability is associated with those who
lack the ability to make personal life choices, to
make personal decision and to maintain
independence and to self-determine.
Campbell (2013) argues that term refer to
people/participants who may have additional needs
including frail older people as well as children and young
people; people with mental health and learning
difficulties etc.
But self-perceptions of vulnerability may not always
accords with those of others; for instance Steel (2000)
acknowledges both the number of individuals and groups
who are described as vulnerable by service providers;
whereas some of these people would never describe
themselves as vulnerable or marginalized at all. Thus
self-perception of vulnerability is both socially
constructed.
Poverty as a concept and condition depends on
. ; in this context there are
perspective of social groups
those who consider difference relative of vulnerability.
Poverty is opposite of autonomy..
Further it is argued vulnerability is inherent in the
human condition- inevitably descriptive of the
institutions build in response to that vulnerability.
Poverty, Vulnerability & equality (conception of
autonomy and liberty).
It demands state’s responsiveness and at the same
time the idea connects human being with each other.
(Aristotle)
Presumption of equality as same may results
into problems. As everyone is compared within
same “standard”.
In this sense profound inequalities are tolerated
by reference to individual responsibility. & state
is not mandate to respond to such, nor does it
have to establish mechanisms to ensure more
equitable distributions of either social goods or
responsibilities between individuals, groups, and
institutions.

 Wider meaning of poverty
 Poverty include:
 • concepts which refer to material status, including need,
multiple deprivation, lack of security and lack of resources;
 • those which refer to moral status, including entitlement and
serious hardship; and
 • those which refer to social relationships, including
relationships of inequality, class, dependency and exclusion.
State in response to social movements and political
pressures at certain points intervenes.
Labeling as poor and vulnerable :Urban Institute Health
Policy Center defines “vulnerable populations” as
“groups that are not well integrated into the health care
system”
 grouping – problematize
Individual as political & Legal Subject: state; societal
institution and individual- work around the principles of
liberty and autonomy- bargain-negotiation- consent.
Manipulation of these principles – violates that social
contract
Dependency & Stigmatization
at least five different types of assets or resources
that societal organizations and institutions can
provide. It include: physical assets, human assets,
social assets, ecological or environmental assets,
and existential assets.
Who is Poor? – need (basic needs); Resources (lack of
income etc.); Standard of living (duration); multiple
deprivation (the problems associated with lack of
resources, healthcare and other welfare values etc.)
 Inequality (its various aspects); class (establishes distinguish
social-economic relations, power dynamics); dependency
(George Simmel’s expression); lack of security (lack of
security amounting to vulnerability- women working in
sugar mills); exclusion (gender, sex, race, class, caste,
economic position etc.); lack of entitlement (destitution-
people starve not because there is no food, but they are not
entitled to food); unacceptable hardships
 poverty shall not be marketized
Experiences during COVID (right to edu.;
healthcare)
 Poverty, Vulnerability and policy approach:
 Best interest Theory
 Will and Preference Theory
Claim-Rights approach: assertiveness – and bargain position

welfare rights vs. individual rights

Mechanism for universality of rights

 Poverty & Ethnicity relationship: Minority- Linguistic; racial;
Ethnic; religious; bodily; gender and sexuality; involuntary and
voluntary.
 Ethnic minority/majority in that sense strengths the diversity- as long as
it is not categorized within stereotypes.
 Poverty manifests itself in various forms, including a lack of income
and productive resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods, hunger and
malnutrition, ill health, increased morbidity and mortality from illness,
limits on or lack of access to education and other basic services,
homelessness and inadequate housing, unsafe environments, and social
discrimination and exclusion. It is also characterized by a lack of
participation in decision-making and in civil, social, and cultural life.
An ethnic group is a social group that shares a common and distinctive
history, culture, religion, language, or the like. Ethnic poverty occurs
when there is systemic poverty for an ethnic group. Ethnic Poverty:
Causes, Implications and Solutions by Tolulope Olarewaju, NO
POVERTY, Springer publications, book part of Encyclopedia of
UN Sustainable Development Goal
 Race in a Bottle by Jonathan Kahn (Book)- Radicalized
Medicine in post-Genomic Age (Columbia Press):I believe
one of the great truths to emerge from this triumphant
expedition inside the human genome is that in genetic terms,
all human beings, regardless of race, are more than 99.9
percent the same."
 2005 use of drug BiDil
 Louis Wirth, any group of people who, because of their physical
or cultural characteristics, are singled out from the others in the
society in which they live for differential and unequal treatment,
and who therefore regard themselves as objects of collective
discrimination.”
 Subordinate group v. dominant group
 Can the Subaltern Speak? (Gayatri Spivak)
 Subject-object dichotomy
 The politics of plurality and dominance of power; if the
oppressed is given the chance (who is non-recognized by
“social-capitalist”), on the way of solidarity can speak and
know their conditions.
 Rights and Poverty- as various findings indicates that poorest often live in remote
rural areas and more likely to be ethnic minority and have less resources, less
education and fewer assets and living on less then 50 cents in a day. Similarly, the
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action of the 1993 World Conference on
Human rights states-The existence of widespread extreme poverty inhibits the full
and effective enjoyment of human rights; its immediate alleviation and eventual
elimination must remain a high priority for the international community.
 subjacent poor- those living on more than 0.75$ but less then 1$
 Medium poor- those living on more than 0.50$ but less then 0.75$
 Ultra poor- living on less then 0.50$ a day!
 Subjacent Hungry- those consuming more than 1,800 but fewer than 2,200 kcal a
day
 Medium Hungry- who consume more than 1,600 kcal but less then 2, 800 kcal
 Ultra Hungry- less than 1,600 kcal a day
 (source: characteristics and causes of severe poverty and hunger; Focus brief on
World poor and Hungry)
 Poverty- lack of access- healthcare, social and physical security (e.g.
Bangladesh-serious illness, accidents or death occurred in approximately 48
to 50% poor households compared to 29% of non-poor.)
 Remoteness and poor: specially in rural areas- people are placed far away
from the basic market area- (in Zambia poor people are more likely to be
located more than 20 km from the nearest market than those who are not
poor, similarly in Laos poverty is lower in villages with roads than in those
without.
 Education & Poverty: Education has been shown to have significant
positive impacts on agricultural productivity, employment, access to credit,
use of government services, adult and child health, and education outcomes.
Looking below the dollar-a-day poverty line reveals that uneducated women
and men are much more likely to experience ultra poverty than subjacent
poverty. In various countries population of uneducated adult males without
schooling is almost double or more among the ultra poor then non-poor.
 E.g. in Vietnam adult males living in ultra poverty are three time more
likely to be unschooled then those living with above 1$ a day!
 Landlessness and Poverty: one of the main cause of poverty
among indigenous people, particularly women. Landlessness
resulted from displacement due to colonialization , corporate
imperialism, earths exploration and exploitation, war, etc. has
increased social marginalization, lack of access to basic social
services and chronic poverty.
 Exclusion and Poverty: it is found that groups that doesn't fall in
majority have consistency higher prevalence of poverty and
hunger.
 discussion on Arnstein’s paper
 Significant to understand the power structures and their interaction
at policy and implementation level.
 It is quite old, but never-the-less of great value to anyone
interested in issues of citizen participation
 the concerns raised there are still very significant, but mostly
unknown, unacknowledged or ignored.
 In fact the present day administrations work on papers- rubber
stamp – where variety of manipulations as ‘participation in the
process’ ; citizen consultation and other related terminologies are
in use.
 Citizen participation is citizen power (self-help) (citizen-
involvement).
 Empty rituals of participation and having real power to affect the
outcome of the process.
 French Student Poster message: “I participate, you participate,
they participates, we participate…they profit.”
 The bottom rungs of the ladder are (1) Manipulation and (2)
Therapy. These two rungs describe levels of "non-participation"
that have been contrived by some to substitute for genuine
participation. Their real objective is not to enable people to
participate in planning or conducting programs, but to enable
powerholders to "educate" or "cure" the participants.
 Rungs 3 and 4 progress to levels of "tokenism" that allow the
have-nots to hear and to have a voice: (3) Informing and (4)
Consultation. When they are proffered by powerholders as the
total extent of participation, citizens may indeed hear and be
heard. But under these conditions they lack the power to insure
that their views will be heeded by the powerful.
 When participation is restricted to these levels, there is no follow-
through, no "muscle," hence no assurance of changing the status
quo. Rung (5) Placation is simply a higher level tokenism
because the ground rules allow have-nots to advise, but retain for
the powerholders the continued right to decide.
 In fact John Rawls theory of distributive justice was criticized on
the same ground- that in vale of ignorance few people are not
allowed to participate!
 up the ladder are levels of citizen power with increasing degrees
of decision-making. For instance, 6) Partnership that enables
them to negotiate and engage in trade-offs with traditional power
holders. At the topmost rungs, (7) Delegated Power and (8)
Citizen Control, have-not citizens obtain the majority of
decision-making seats, or full managerial power.
 Various programs such as urban renewal schemes; anti-poverty
schemes and model cities schemes etc.
 The underlying issue is “nobodies" in several arenas are trying to
become "somebodies" with enough power to make the target
institutions responsive to their views, aspirations, and needs.

 Each group (have and have-nots) encompasses a host of divergent
points of view, significant cleavages, competing vested interests, and
splintered subgroups. The justification for using such simplistic
abstractions is that in most cases the have-nots really do perceive the
powerful as a monolithic "system," and powerholders actually do view
the have-nots as a sea of "those people," with little comprehension of
the class and caste differences among them.
 Illustrations –CAC and its sub-committees – manipulation
 In tharapy - Its administrators - mental health experts from social
workers to psychiatrists - assume that powerlessness is synonymous
with mental illness. On this assumption, under a masquerade of
involving citizens in planning, the experts subject the citizens to
clinical group therapy. What makes this form of "participation" so
invidious is that citizens are engaged in extensive activity, but the focus
of it is on curing them of their "pathology" rather than changing the
racism and victimization that create their "pathologies."
 In participation what citizens achieve in all this activity is
that they have "participated in participation." And what
powerholders achieve is the evidence that they have gone
through the required motions of involving "those people."
 Use of Surveys and interviews: Residents are increasingly
unhappy about the number of times per week they are
surveyed about their problems and hopes. As one woman put
it: "Nothing ever happens with those damned questions,
except the surveyor gets $3 an hour, and my washing doesn't
get done that day."
 Survey after survey (paid for out of anti-poverty funds) has
"documented" that poor housewives most want tot-lots in their
neighborhood where young children can play safely. But most
of the women answered these questionnaires without knowing
what their options were. They assumed that if they asked for
something small, they might just get something useful in the
neighborhood. Had the mothers known that a free prepaid
health insurance plan was a possible option, they might not
have put tot-lots so high on their wish lists.
 at the level of Placation citizens begin to have some degree of influence
though tokenism is still apparent. An example of placation strategy is to
place a few hand-picked "worthy" poor on boards of Community Action
Agencies or on public bodies like the board of education etc.
 Institutionalization of Discourse !
 Thus need of theory of deliberative democracy, which tests first person
representation on specific criteria of inclusivity; deliberative discussion
and actual feeling of involvement.
 The same can be achieved by creating common platform certain
parameters need to be finalized, it primarily includes peer support;
capacity building of all stakeholders; knowledge building and awareness
rising; dialoguing with the imperialist groups; civil society sensitization
and public policy advocacy etc.
 Trust & Rapport with all stakeholders (P Dahlgren, Media and Political
engagement: Citizen, Communication and Democracy)
 Dahlgren’s ‘Civic Culture community’ model of deliberation –
 participants must be able to access knowledge and process
information. They must have access and ability to interpret
debates, statistics, reports and technological developments
related to the issue. Secondly, participants must have affinity
towards democratic values like equality, justice, reciprocity and
accountability. Thirdly, there must be mutual trust among all
participants; they must be clear about the points of deliberation
and must repose confidence in one another. The next is open and
free space, assures bargaining power. Next is Practice!
 Organized manipulation- where have-nots are continued to be deprived
and forced to live at the Mercy of the haves.
 See: One Dimensional Man by Herbart Marcuse; the author discussed
or used metaphor- Internationalization of resources in the name of LPG
(Liberalization; Privatization; Globalization)- now- Covidaization.
 Poverty eradication ?
 Constituent Assembly debates speeches:
 The need to “end poverty, ignorance, disease and
inequality of opportunity.
 Pre-constitutional promises: poverty eradication
was one among them. Several years later during 11th plan
 Commitments: “struggle for the removal of chronic poverty,
ignorance and disease will register major gains in the Eleventh
(five year) Plan.” 
 While releasing the press note on constitution of the niti Aayog,
it was stated: “Poverty elimination remains one of the most
important metrics by which alone we should measure our
success as a nation.”
 Have-nots are increasing-despite various promises being made.
 Lakdawala Committee Report & Tendulkar Committee Report :
27.5- 37.2 % of population in poverty. 356.30 per capita par
month in rural areas; 538.60 356.30 per capita par month in
urban. –incresed to 446.68 & 578.80 respectively.
 The programs are not been implemented – lack of awareness; lack
of commitment.
 World Bank report- decline in global poverty is there but the rate is
slowed See: https
://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/why-the-fight-against-pov
erty-is-failing-a-contrarian-view
/
 Monolithic “system” power-holders “We” and “they & argue for
“those people”
 Manipulation: through “educating”- “development”; “public
relation” – vehicle by powerholders.
 Illustration of CAC – to protect the racial minorities: whereas such
committees and sub-committees work as letterheads; at meetings it
was the officials who educated, persuaded, and advised the
 Information-manipulating agenda. The plan of these
committees is to involve the grassroots people. The idea is to
showcasing the people.
 bidding for govt. contracts- exploitation of workers
 Therapy level- dishonesty and arrogance- focus on the
pathology rather then changing the racism and victimization.
 a father took his seriously ill baby to the emergency clinic of
a local hospital, a young resident physician on duty instructed
him to take the baby home and feed it sugar water. The baby
died that afternoon of pneumonia and dehydration.
 The overwrought father complained to the board of the local
Community Action Agency. Instead of launching an
investigation of the hospital to determine what changes
would prevent similar deaths or other forms of malpractice,
the board invited the father to attend the CAA's (therapy)
child-care sessions for parents, and promised him that
someone would "telephone the hospital director to see that it
never happens again.
 Informing: one way flow-monolog. At late stage in planning,
people have little opportunity to influence the program designed
"for their benefit.”
 The most frequent tools used for such one-way communication
are the news media, pamphlets, posters, and responses to
inquiries. Meetings--
 illustration gender-sexuality: “good” and “bad” gay.
 Consultation: Inviting citizens' opinions, like informing them, can
be a legitimate step toward their full participation. But if
consulting them is not combined with other modes of
participation, this rung of the ladder is still a sham since it offers
no assurance that citizen concerns and ideas will be taken into
account.
 Accordingly Database-
 Placation: It is at this level that citizens begin to have some
degree of influence though tokenism is still apparent. An
example of placation strategy is to place a few hand-picked
"worthy" poor on boards of Community Action Agencies.
 Partnership:power is in fact redistributed through negotiation
between citizens and powerholders.
 Delegated Power; Actual particiaption
 Culture and Imperialism by Edward Said(1993)- culture is
identification of a country, whereas imperialism is no more
than the greed for power; resources and land; henceforth
ruins the identification/culture... This ultimately leads to
construction of poverty.
 Feminization of Poverty
 women compared to men have a higher incidence of poverty;
 women’s poverty is more severe than men’s;
 the incidence of poverty among women is increasing compared
to that of men.
 women/gender and poverty: it studies phenomenon largely
links to how women and children are disproportionately
represented within the lower socioeconomic status.
 Causes: include family and house hold structure, violence
including sexual, employment, education, healthcare and
‘femonomics’ (gender of money- Reeta Wolfsohn)
 Term feminization of poverty was first used by Diana Pearce
in 1976 based on her observation of women among women
in America. She observed that two thirds of the poor were
women over the age of 16 and an increasingly large number
were from the economically disadvantaged groups.
 Women & Poverty: lack of participation; bargain power-
This results in deprivation in their own lives and losses for
the broader society and economy. But because of stigmatized
expressions they lack access to education; health including
reproductive health etc. this results in extra marginalization.
 The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted by
189 members states in 1995 reflects the urgency around
women and poverty by making it the first 12 of critical areas of
concern.
 Spicker (1999) defines poverty as consisting of "serious
deprivation" where people are conceived to be poor when their
"material circumstances are deemed to be morally
unacceptable".
 The definition implies a moral imperative and a value
judgment which means that something needs to be done about
the situation.  
 While it is acknowledged that the core elements of definitions
of poverty may differ, the underlying assumption is that this
deprivation is detrimental to the well-being of those who are
subjected it.
 The topic "feminization of poverty" calls for an analysis into
the definition of poverty and an understanding of the way it is
experienced by women.
 Gender, age, culture and socio-cultural factors
 It is well evident fact lack of material items results in physical
deprivation which also reveal important psychological aspects
as well. Poor people are acutely aware of their voicelessness,
powerlessness and lack of independence.
 Poverty has the tendency to expose people to humiliation,
rudeness, and inhumane treatment by public and private agents
of service.
 The lack of physical, human, social and environmental assets
results into vulnerability and exposure to risk.
 conceptualization of feminization of poverty from a feminist
perspective is that women suffer discrimination because of their
sex and, their special needs largely remain negated.
 According to UNIFEM (United National Development Funds for
women, 2000) make up 70% of the world's 1.3 billion poor and
this figure is constantly increasing.
 In Africa, for instance, the poverty rate among female-headed
household is 60% compared to 30% in male-headed household.
 researchers argue that women experience deprivation despite living
in households which fall above the poverty line. This has been
demonstrated where women use every effort to spare their family
from the effects of poverty before meeting their own needs. Such
action subjects them to even greater degrees of poverty.
 One of the most pertinent factors in the feminization of poverty is
the system of social security and its accessibility to the most
vulnerable families.
 But in African states, for instance the cost of existing grant system
was r 1.2 billion with only 2 out of 1000 black African children
benefitting from it.
 Poverty-vulnerability- race; caste etc.
 Prevalent Patriarchal notions – deny the access in various manner
 Macro-political power- at family level- even impact
reproductive choices
 Invisibility of women in contributing towards economy was
11 trillion $ as reported by UNDP in mid 90s.
 Their contribution in terms of ‘Social capital, but still are
remain non-monetized.
 Economic Developments & opportunities
 Binaries of ‘feminine’ & ‘masculine’
 E.g. home-based garment workers in India are facing
exploitation by major fashion retailers.
 The apparel brands that source garments from India are
providing vital employment for marginalized women and girls
who often have no option of earning.
 Research fellow at California UNIVERSITY, Siddharth Kara
has interviewed 1,452 individuals, who works 6 to 7 days per
week, aging between 10 years to 73.
 99.3% of the workers belonging to the marginalized sections of
society, earn 0.15% $ per hour.
 Women in Development (WID) & Gender and Development
(GAD) has evidenced the diversity between women as well as
the impact of gender on all aspects of human life.
 Gender, Discrimination &
Economics
 ‘not all women are poor and not all poor people are women...
all women suffer from discrimination’ (Kabeer, 1996)
 Historically there is persistent ‘otherization’ of women. The
initial literature provide evidence about “objectifying”
women in all spheres of life.
 Reed v Reed, 1971- one of the important decision of SC of
USA on right to equality for Women.
 Saly Reed an Cecil Reed were a separate married couple from
Idaho, US... The issue was administration of estate…
 To give a mandatory preference to members of either sex over
members of the other, merely to accomplish the elimination of
hearings on the merits, is to make the very kind of arbitrary
legislative choice forbidden by the Equal Protection Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment; and whatever may be said as to the
positive values of avoiding intra-family controversy, the choice in
this context may not lawfully be mandated solely on the basis of
sex.
 The graph of Female labor force is dipping down 2016-2018
 male preference over female; taboos governing these decisions
 Domestic Violence against Woman during Lock Down – See
Shadow of Pandemic (unwomen.org)
 Wages for work done outside your own home’, the implication
being that ‘workers are men with wives at home who attend to the
necessities of life’ [Breaking Women’s Silence in Law]
 Shulamith Firestone, The Dialectic of Sex: the case for Feminist
Revolution (1970)- Long battle to fight
 The women contribution in field of growth (civilization,
protection etc.) is always ignored. They become the part of the
missing history. On this, Svetlana Alexievich, the author of ‘THE
UNWOMANLY FACE OF WAR’ argues-
 I collect the everyday life of feelings, thoughts and words. I
collect the life of my time. I am interested in the history of the
soul. The everyday life of the soul, the things that the big picture
of history usually omits, or disdains. I work with missing history.
 Acknowledging the Oral historians – and recording their
experiences.
 gender pay gap- in US for non-adjusted average woman’s annual
salary is 79% of the average man’s salary.
 Though globally there is development- 1960s to 1990s this gap has
reduced from 65% to 30% (Rodolf Winter, Doris Weichselbaumer:
study based on 60 countries)
 Division of labor – “high-tech” vs. “high-touch”.
 A 2015 meta-analysis of studies of experimental simulations of
employment found that "men were preferred for male-dominated
jobs (i.e., gender-role congruity bias), whereas no strong
preference for either gender was found for female-dominated or
integrated jobs.
 Studies on women role in economics – 1950s- UNGA
established a Commission on the Status of Women, for
developing dedicated program for women in development
sector.
 Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs)
 Women’s role in Economic Development (1970) book
 The concept of ‘Feminization of poverty’ also indicates
specific forms of poverty related to women in particular:
 a) poverty in decision making power – because of lack of
bargain position; b) economic poverty; c) energy poverty –
lacking access to affordable sustainable energy (2019 there
were estimated 770 million people who have no access to
electricity; 95% Asia & Africa).; d) poverty of assets- holding
of property and resources; e) Time Poverty
 How to measure poverty? – 3 indexes – Gender related
Development Index; Gender Empowerment Measure; Human
Poverty Index
 Longevity or Life-expectancy of females and males;
 Education and knowledge;
 Basic needs and their fulfillment;
 Decent standard of living;
 Employment percentile in government and non-government
(labor market)
 Estimate female to male ratio
 Social participation & Security etc.
 Constructed identities and
resulted Vulnerability
 16-20% India's female population, comprises of Dalit women,
face a "triple burden" of gender bias, caste discrimination and
economic deprivation.
 rampant sexual violence faced by India's 80 million Dalit
women, who like their male counterparts languish at the bottom
of India's unbending and harsh caste hierarchy. (BBC Report)
 The Dalit female belongs to the most oppressed group in the
world," says Dr Suraj Yengde, author of Caste Matters, he
argues, She is a victim of the cultures, structures and
institutions of oppression, both externally and internally. This
manifests in perpetual violence against Dalit women.

 Hathras incident; in fact, three states - Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and
Rajasthan - report more than half of the cases of atrocities against the
Dalits. el
 In a 2006 study of 500 Dalit women in four states across India on the
forms of violence they had faced, 54% had been physically assaulted;
46% had been sexually harassed; 43% had faced domestic violence;
23% had been raped; and 62% had been verbally abused.
 Historian Uma Chakaravarti says, The turning point in the history of
violence against Dalit women in India was in 2006, when four
members of a Dalit family - a woman, her 17-year-old daughter, and
two sons - were brutally murdered by upper caste men after a
protracted conflict over land. It was came light when two women
went to the police to file a complaint over a land dispute with upper
castes in the village. "This gruesome incident stirred the conscience of
Dalits and highlighted their social suffering and discrimination
 Need to strengthen the eco. Capacity of women.
 According to Goldberg and Kremen (1990) it is possible to
predict the feminization of poverty when three factors are
present: (1) inadequate efforts to reduce remuneration
inequities for women; (2) the absence of social welfare
programmes to redress the needs of women created by the
duality of their roles (work and family); (3) the changing
family structure which represent a large percentage of single
mothers through increasing rates of divorce.
 Idea of Oppression by Iris M
Young
 What is oppression?
 Young argues “All oppressed people suffer some inhibition of
their ability to develop and exercise their capacities, and
express their needs, thoughts, and feelings.”
 Oppression has commonly been understood as “the exercise
of tyranny by a ruling group” and often carries “a strong
connotation of conquest and colonial domination” but in
wider sphere oppression can exist within, ‘everyday practice
of a well-intentioned liberal society.’
 
 In short, oppression can sometimes (in fact, most often) be the
result of “systemic injustices” or “systemic wrongs”.
  Systemic Injustice: when oppression is structural rather then
the result of few people choice; in other words, when oppression
is embedded in certain unquestioned norms, habits, and
institutional rules within a society. In this case, injustices to a
group of people occur “as a consequence of often unconscious
assumptions and reactions of well-meaning people in ordinary
interactions.
 Young says, Oppression- is really a cluster of concepts – 5 forms
of oppression: Exploitation; Marginalization; Powerlessness;
Cultural Imperialism; Violence
 Exploitation: occurs when the efforts and energies of the
members of one group are primarily directed toward the benefit
of the members of another group— and this is exploitative
especially in contexts where the group that is benefitted has some
power or status that the other does not
  Young discusses exploitation in the context of capitalism, where
worker’s labor is converted into a product or service that
produces something of greater value.
 But, such divisions are especially oppressive when they cut
across other group lines such as race or gender. US – white male
supremacy.
  Women – 78.3% of white men’s pay; Black women -64%;
Hispanic Women – 54%
 Marginalization: Young says, is when “a whole category of
people is expelled from useful participation in social life and
thus potentially subjected to severe material deprivation and
even extermination.”
  For instance, the very old, the mentally disabled, or those
within the welfare system are in many cases completely
dependent upon others for having their needs met. There is a
tendency in our society to only deem someone as important, or
valuable, if they achieve the means to sustain themselves
entirely independently.
 Powerlessness : no bargain power (position of women; racial
minority). In addition to transferring their energies to those in
power, the exploited are also subject to rules and laws which dictate
how they must live their lives—rules and laws which they have no
power to change.
 Cultural Imperialism: one dominate narrative persist over others,
one set of belief or knowledge about development or growth. She
argues, “To experience cultural imperialism means to experience
how the dominant meanings of a society render the particular
perspective of one’s own group invisible at the same time as they
stereotype one’s group and mark it out as the Other. Cultural
imperialism involves the universalization of a dominant group’s
experience and culture, and its establishment as the norm. … As a
consequence, the dominant cultural products of the society …
express the experience, values, goals, and achievements of these
groups. Often without noticing they do so, the dominant groups
project their own experience as representative of humanity as such.”
 the dominant group—the group making most of the decisions
for EVERYONE—sees the world through the lens of their
OWN experience, and often makes decisions and shapes the
world based upon what THEY want and need, totally forgetting
or overlooking the fact that their own experience is not
universally shared, and that needs and desires of other groups
are often very different.
 What is worse, these divisions between the “main” groups and
the “other” groups are often tainted with implicit value
judgments, where deviations from the norm or majority are
seen as “abnormal”, and therefore deviant or inferior in some
way.
 Also leads to construction of binaries-Labeling of people
 Eg. Beast of burden by Sunara taylor – ape – sign language;
depiction of African women by white historians
 Sexuality & gender: depiction of sexual minorities- Body in
doubts , Elizabeth Retz –
 Metaphorical
  use of ‘Mobius strip’ for identity illusion

(human being is like a ant moving on strip – internal &

external sides of strip)
 Violence : physical & symbolical
How imperialist model impacted inhabitation or development?
Introducing the modern city planning/model through
Gentrification 
the process whereby the character of a poor urban area is changed
by wealthier people moving in, improving housing, and attracting
new businesses, often displacing current inhabitants in the process.
Thus, Gentrification describes a process where wealthy, educated
individuals begin to move into poor or working-class communities,
often originally occupied by communities of color. The people and
businesses that move into gentrifying neighborhoods may have
goals for their new homes that are at odds with the goals of people
who have lived there for a long time. 


 Gentrification may increase the economic value of a neighborhood, but
resulting demographic displacement may itself become a major problem.
 Gated societies/apartments- urban locality
 Shopping malls replacing small shops..
 The term was first time used by Ruth Glass, British sociologist – ideal of
development
 ‘One by one, many of the working class neighbourhoods of London have
been invaded by the middle-classes-upper and lower. Shabby,
modest mews and cottages-two rooms up and two down—have been
taken over….’
 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report –Health
Effects of Gentrification defines real estate concept of
gentrification as ‘the transformation of neighbourhood from
low value to high value. This change has the potential to to
cause displacement because of higher taxes, rents etc.
 It affect the community history, culture and reduces social
diversity.
 It is a production of space for progressively affluent
individuals; reduction of residential and retail space affordable
to low-income resident; it is a process through which new
middle class move into inner city neighbourhood.
 Become a Part of a housing discrimination- in US ordinances
prohibit people in racial minority from occupying or owning
houses in majority white neighbourhood
 Buchanan v. Warley, - racial zoning ordinance
 Fair Housing Act
 Housing Panopticon-
 Various theories/aspects of gentrification:
 Demographic/ecological: impact of population, social
organization, technology. It refers to baby boomer
generation…single and married people – live in inner cirty in
close proximity to their jobs.
 Politico-economic: economic and political facotrs are
responsible for inner city invasion.
 Community network; Sociocultural etc.