Abstract:
INTRODUCTION: While the concept of 'poverty' is often taken to refer simply to economic poverty, it has long been realised that when properly understood, 'poverty' has features that transcend this simple concept. For example, it has social aspects (which has led to the debate on the"concept of 'poverty culture') and political features. The question that occurs, then, is what are the dimensions of poverty? That is, what are the different aspects of poverty that are important features of the phenomenon, yet are in a significant sense independent of each other? The aim of this paper is to explore this question. In essence we are asking, what are the different kinds of poverty? Supporting the view that the concept one is trying to grasp is wider than is expressed in the phrase 'economic poverty', it is proposed that there are indeed other dimensions that should be distinguished, and which are important enough to be denoted by specific names. It will be argued that specifically distinguishing these aspects and applying their names to the situation, when appropriate, is a significant step both in clarifying the nature of poverty in general, and in analysing speciific situations where the label 'poverty' is applicable in particular.
