Poverty and the Quality of Life: Lessons from South African Research

After touching briefly on the milestones of poverty research in South Africa during the first three-quarters of the 20th century, the paper focuses on the findings of the Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty&Development in Southern Africa (1980–1989) which drew on the work of some 450 researchers primarily from 23 universities around the region. Using some of the most striking findings of the Inquiry (including, particularly, statements by people themselves enduring poverty) the paper analyses the impact of poverty by considering seven lessons that South Africans have learned over the past 20–25 years about the different dimensions of its impact on the quality of life.