Philosophical Misframings of Poverty

This chapter explains why viewing poverty as needs scarcity caused by a maldistribution of resources has led many philosophers to ignore critical aspects of poverty and their underlying structural causes. The depoliticized view of chronic deprivation held by philosophers focused on the “moral demands of affluence” is closely linked with the moral doctrine of “sufficientarianism,” whose proponents reject or minimize the significance of inequality as such. “Effective altruism,” a popular movement promoting an evidence-based approach to improving the world through philanthropy, draws on sufficientarianism’s apolitical view of poverty as reducible to needs deprivation, measurable in terms of income and consumption. This chapter argues that ignoring the structural drivers and nonmaterial dimensions of poverty—like social exclusion, dispossession, exploitation, and subordination—leads theorists to overlook the vital role of organized poor communities’ struggles for justice.