Oldal 58 [58]
56 | Tue PnıLosorny or Eco-Porrriıcs
we desire and receive and what we even mean by, say, recognition and
contempt, are integral parts of the social order and cultural heritage,
within the framework of which we are even capable of imagining
ourselves as someone: as master or servant, parent or child, an individual
fulfilling a given role successfully or not. Deprivation and satisfaction,
poverty and wealth are therefore concepts that can only be interpreted
within a given system, for who lacks and what they lacks are both
creations of the network of connections that shape them.
‘This system-based approach leads not to the relativisation of the issue
of poverty. On the contrary, it helps one discuss the issue in the real
context of the of the social situation of the individual and, even more
so, of the group. This situation does not necessarily correlate with the
possession of goods and the indicators of consumption. Man does not
have a fundamental need of something that could even be measured
with such indicators. What he needs is 1. to be understood, recognised,
treated with respect and helped by his peers, because in this case 2. he
can feel secure and develop his abilities unhindered. 3. Consequently,
he acquires the food, shelter, work and familial connections deemed
appropriate in his social environment. 4. Therefore, he will probably
continue to live and enjoy better health than someone who lacks these
things. The causal relation between these four groups of the conditions
of a good human life is empirically proven. Their lack makes life
miserable. I use the word misery, because poor material conditions, in
the everyday use of the term, do not in themselves necessarily impede
welfare or a sufficient quality of life. On the other hand, vulnerability,
exclusion, humiliation or the contempt of one’s peers can, in itself and
its consequences alike, make anyone miserable.
2. The above view of poverty — that it is nothing else than the unsatisfied
need for certain products — is ideological to the extreme: it makes
possible the handling of poverty as an economical issue, as an anomaly
that can be remedied by more production and/or a more just distribution.
(According to this economy-centred approach, politics is in effect
nothing else than the influence exercised by the holders of public power
on the distribution of resources, i.e., on the economy.) It is an
increasingly accepted assumption in late modernity that the social
conflicts arising from the distribution are avoidable or will become so,
as soon as the development of production technologies can ensure the
unlimitedly bountiful production of goods and services, thus finally
ensuring enough of everything for everyone. For the source of radical