Rethinking Poverty

CHAPTER 1

A LOCAL APPROACH TO POVERTY MEASUREMENT

SOCIAL SCIENCE STUDIES OF POVERTY AND SOCIAL INEQUALITY proliferate across the globe and have provided a central focus of interest among Caribbean scholars, particularly since the 1990s. Although local researchers initially followed the trend by privileging an economic approach and indicators that measured income against consumption in order to define those above and below a poverty line, recent approaches have challenged this narrow focus by high-lighting social, psychological, political and environmental determinants. New indicators have been added, for example, in health and education, social capital and participation, environmental degradation and citizenship rights in law, policy and practice. Our research and analysis seek to further that trajectory with a conceptual frame that foregrounds and maps the intersections among four key concepts: asset-deprivation, social exclusion, resilience and human rights.