Abstract

In this chapter, we provide a normative analysis of the relational dimension of poverty, that is, an account that is concerned with certain patterns of social and political relations amongst poor and non-poor individuals. While a relational dimension of poverty has been increasingly acknowledged in the literature, many share an underdeveloped notion of what exactly this means. One plausible way to develop it is by analysing the inferior social position held by poverty-stricken individuals in terms of an increased risk of being dominated by others and of a systematic lack of esteem. In this understanding, the agency of an impoverished individual is undermined at both the individual and institutional level, divesting those in poverty of the full capacity to make important decisions affecting their lives. In this vein, first, we will argue that this understanding hints at the possibility of recognising the agency of impoverished individuals by rethinking the way we design public policies to alleviate poverty. Second, that a deliberative strategy is a promising way for redressing the relational dimension of poverty by considering the poor as full citizens with power to make important decisions, capable of speaking by and for themselves and of making joint decisions with policy-makers on what should be done to alleviate poverty.