Work, Consumerism and the New Poor - Tapa dura

Can poverty be fought and conquered by orthodox means? Should we seek new solutions like "decoupling" the right to livelihood from the selling of labour and extending the socially recognised concept of work? How urgent is it to confront these social questions and find practical answers? If 'being poor' once derived its meaning from the condition of being unemployed, today it draws its meaning primarily from the plight of a flawed consumer. This is one difference which truly makes a difference - in the way living in poverty is experienced and in the chances and prospects to redeem its misery. This absorbing book traces this change, which has been taking place over the duration of modern history, and makes an inventory of its social consequences. It also considers how fit (or unfit) means of fighting back advancing poverty and mitigating its hardships are to grasp and tackle the problems of poverty in its present form. The new edition features new and up to date coverage of some of the key thinkers in the field, including a discussion of recent work on redundancy, disposability and exclusion. Students of sociology, politics and social policy will find this to be an invaluable text on the changing significance and implications of an enduring social problem.

Zygmunt Bauman is an emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Leeds. He is one of the foremost commentators on the postmodern condition. His latest books include Postmodernity and Its Discontents and The Globals and the Locals.