Journal ArticlesArmut ist relativ!
Spannagel, Dorothee; Brülle, Jan (2024)
WSI-Mitteilungen 77(4): 310–312
DOI: 10.5771 /0342-300X-2024-4-310
Poverty cannot be determined objectively; it is necessarily based on normative preconceptions. Any concept of poverty must therefore be defined in a public-scientific discourse. Currently this discourse is at least partly drifting back to an idea of absolute poverty that was thought to be over, poverty is sometimes played down as “low income”. The article picks up on that discourse and shows: Poverty can only be defined relative to a given social situation. In a wealthy society like that of Germany, poverty is always tied to social participation. The article explains why this must be the case.