Research on Poverty and Chronic Poverty

PLAAS’s research on poverty and chronic poverty intends to inform policymaking by grounding debate in a detailed understanding of the livelihood activities and strategies of poor and vulnerable people, and the ways in which those livelihoods are embedded in the broader political economy of South Africa.

Research on Poverty and Chronic Poverty

Andries du Toit

David Neves

 

 

 

 

 

 

PLAAS’s research on poverty and chronic poverty intends to inform policymaking by grounding debate in a detailed understanding of the livelihood activities and strategies of poor and vulnerable people, and the ways in which those livelihoods are embedded in the broader political economy of South Africa.  Its research is directed particularly at understanding the links between chronic and structural poverty.  This requires closely integrating qualitative and quantitative research approaches, and linking the analysis of poverty to a thorough understanding of the role played by local history, gender, identity, and the broader economic and institutional context.

PLAAS situates this work within a broader commitment to  ‘public sociology’; an aims to strike a balance between scholarly publication, policy advice to government and donor agencies, and intervention in public debates and public education about the causes and dynamics of poverty.