Poverty Knowledge in South Africa A Social History of Human Science, 18552005 [Paperback]

This book discusses unconventional ways of measuring and addressing poverty in South Africa, which remains one of the country's biggest challenges.Poverty is South Africa's greatest challenge. But what is poverty? And how can it be measured and addressed? This book argues that poverty knowledge teaches us about the dynamics of historical change, the power of racial thinking in white settler societies, and the role of ordinary people in shaping state policy.Poverty is South Africa's greatest challenge. But what is poverty? And how can it be measured and addressed? This book argues that poverty knowledge teaches us about the dynamics of historical change, the power of racial thinking in white settler societies, and the role of ordinary people in shaping state policy.Poverty is South Africa's greatest challenge. But what is poverty? And how can it be measured and addressed? In South Africa, human-science knowledge about the cost of living grew out of colonialism, industrialization, apartheid, and civil resistance campaigns, which makes this knowledge far from neutral or apolitical. South Africans have used the Poverty Datum Line (PDL), and other poverty indicators, to petition the state, to chip away at the pillars of white supremacy, and, more recently, to criticize the postapartheid government's failures to deliver on its promises. Rather than advocating one particular policy solution, this book argues that poverty knowledge  including knowledge of the tension between quantitative and qualitative observations  teaches us about the dynamics of historical change, the power of racial thinking in white settler societies, and the role of ordinary people in shaping state policy. Readers will gain new perspectives on today's debates about social welfare, redistribution, and human rights and will ultimately find reasons to rethink conventional approaches to advocacy.Part I. Lay Knowledge Meets Human Science, 18551940: The Co-production of the 'Poor White Problem': 1l.