Notes on the Political Neutralization of Poverty

Researchers and experts working on poverty often are active parties in power relations which are inherent in poverty itself. Knowledge of poverty can indeed contribute to politicize or, conversely, depoliticize questions of poverty, even when proceeding from objective, scientific, and authoritative poverty inquiries. Using a critical review of several works in sociology and economics as a linchpin, this article shows that if early 20th century researches allowed the recognition of poverty as a political problem, the close relationships now existing between knowledge and power rather contribute to neutralize the question’s political stakes.