The class analysis of poverty: a response to Erik Olin Wright

Abstract

In Erik Olin Wright's recent essay "The Class Analysis of Poverty," his principal argument was about the centrality of class for understanding and analyzing poverty. While agreeing with this central argument, the author of this article takes issue with Wright's analysis of class relations and in particular the position of the so-called underclass. The author offers instead an analysis that identifies poverty as a peculiar feature of capitalism and its class relationships, pointing to the need for a broader understanding of poverty and of the political forces that need to be mobilized for its eradication.