TITLE:
The Poverty of Socio-Economic Explanation
AUTHORS:
Colin Benjamin, Neil Béchervaise
KEYWORDS:
Australian Constitution, Age Pension, Deprivation, Destitution, Inequality, Poverty, Social Benefit, Social Policy, Thinking, Unconscious Bias
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.10 No.3,
March
10,
2022
ABSTRACT: Measures of absolute and relative poverty are usually constructed around
levels of deprivation, destitution and distress experienced by people with respect
to money, goods or means of subsistence. These measures rely, almost
exclusively, upon cognitive bias and limited life experience to legitimise
discrimination and disadvantage. As (Treloar,
in Henwood, 2021) has observed, in spite of widespread interest in the
relationship between socio-economics and poverty reduction, confusion reigns as to what exactly
predisposes politicians and bureaucrats to consider the implications of the
ways in which they think about people in poverty. This paper explores different
habits of mind determining the range of socio-economic models impacting
Australian Government approaches to Age Pensions and Jobkeeper policy since the
onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Progressing beyond quantitative analytics to extend our
understanding of socio-economic definitions of poverty, insights into
alternative ways of thinking are considered in view of innovative applications
of financial independence in response to poverty management. Recognising the
contrast between traditional political and
bureaucratic responses to poverty across the Australian population and more
recent recognition of the centrality of the recipients of social welfare, in
whatever form it is delivered, the paper provides an analysis of the
differences in background and thinking patterns of policy developers and
welfare recipients. In consequence of this analysis, the paper
identifies a significant, albeit largely unconscious, cognitive bias among
policy developers and proposes the need for a substantial change in the way
social welfare is conceptualised at a political level.