The Beautiful, Expanding Future of Poverty: Popular Economics as a Psychological Defense

There is a basic distinction between poverty, which has always been with us, and destitution, which has become more pronounced only recently given the assault on traditional communities and their life–support system. Destitution is directly attributable to processes of development. This paper investigates the psychological structures with which the mainstream cultures of politics live, but especially the ego defense furnished by poverty alleviation (particularly “celebratory” accounts of the decline of poverty) to consolidating middle class consciousness. The presently trendy slogan of globalization can be read as the newest effort to disguise both the declining political clout of the historically disadvantaged and an interest in poverty.