The problem of poverty in the construction of a citizens’ movement

Abstract

The struggles against poverty and social exclusion, which were at the heart of the debate in the Marxist apogee, but which had limitations regarding the inclusion of other multiple forms of socio-cultural segregation (gender, ethnics, age, regions and others) because of class reductionism, were put into a relative ostracism by the theory and practice of the new social movements. The increase of social-cultural inequality, especially in the nonhegemonic countries currently involved in globalization, brings back the old questions of misery, poverty and relative inequality, but now associating them to questions of discrimination, quality of life, right to difference, etc. In the light of a critical review of the theories about poverty, I intend to reflect upon the possibilities of the collective actions of NGO’s and social movements articulating struggles against poverty and inequality with the politics of difference and of democratic participation in the public sphere, working towards the construction of a citizens’ movement in a broad sense.