Civic Poverty and Recognition

Abstract

Poverty cannot be adequately conceptualised without a metric or informational basis allowing for interpersonal comparisons that determine what being poor is and who is poorer. A metric provides a criterion to select the information that is relevant to process comparisons, which implies that some pieces of information are considered in the evaluation, whereas others are excluded. As a consequence of this normative selection, some social circumstances may be captured in the evaluation of poverty, while others may not, which makes such selection relevant.

My position is that Sen’s and Nussbaum’s capability metric is the most suitable one given its comprehensiveness. The capability metric not only accounts for dimensions such as income, housing or health but also aspects of recognition such as the self-assurance we obtain in intimate relationships, in the relations we establish with state institutions or with our partners in social life. In particular, I defend that the capability metric includes Honneth ’s practical relations-to-self of self-confidence, self-respect and self-esteem that provide individuals with enough self-reliance to participate in social life.

Based on these aspects of recognition and taking the capability concept as a metric of poverty, I intend to conceptualise a specific kind of poverty: civic poverty, which I define as a blockage to the development of basic capabilities that allow individuals to participate in decision-making processes. Civic poverty can be considered as a kind of poverty that negatively affects agency since the undermining of the capabilities to raise claims, exchange arguments and justify one’s position hinders the condition of being an agent. As a result, civic poverty prevents certain social groups and their claims from being visible, insofar as they cannot have their voices heard.