The subject of poverty has long been a central concern of development studies. It has also been central to social policy for much longer. Nonetheless, poverty has been recently reasserted in the international development agenda as if a new focus, as enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals.
Poverty Studies
Some claim that this prioritization of poverty has been revolutionary; others claim that it actually represents a retreat into a very narrow vision of development.
The interdisciplinary specialization in Poverty Studies will enable students to engage with these debates by providing them with a comprehensive analytical capacity for understanding how poverty is conceptualized and measured, how the causes of poverty are related to broader understandings of development, and how these inform the formulation, design and evaluation of alternative anti-poverty strategies.
The two courses respectively focus on two currently-prominent poverty reduction policy trends: social protection and employment creation. In discussing these and other issues, the courses emphasise the role of unequal relations of power from micro to a macro levels – particularly with regard to gender, class and transnational relations – that create and sustain various social and economic inequalities, and result in exclusionary growth.
In this way students are equipped with analytical skills to understand poverty reduction from a broader, political economy understanding of development as social and structural transformation.
Courses and readings
For a full description of all specializations, individual courses and indicative readings, please consult Part 3 of the Academic Calendar.