Responding to poverty: centering the poor and reimagining the duties of the affluent

ABSTRACT

In Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-Led Social Movements, Monique Deveaux criticizes and reframes the traditional, moral (and often individualistic) response to poverty in favor of a political and collective one that centers the role of the poor and poor-led groups in the anti-poverty agenda. I have two aims in this review, a supportive one and a more critical one. On the supportive side, I examine the advances Deveaux makes by 1) expanding the category of agents of justice; 2) putting the poor at the center of an effective response to poverty; and 3) changing the emphasis from individual duties to a collective response. On the critical side, I revisit Deveaux’s critique of the traditional approach and argue that she unnecessarily shifts the moral burden away from the affluent whose complicity and capacity remain important grounds of obligation. In conclusion, I consider some remaining challenges that are (helpfully) exposed by Deveaux’s account.

KEYWORDS:

• Poverty
• responsibility
• collective duties
• duty to aid

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Violetta Igneski

Violetta Igneski is an Associate Professor in Philosophy at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. Her research interests are in the ethics of collective action and responsibility, the moral obligations of individuals and collectives, and human rights and their correlative duties.