Introduction

CHAVES, MARIANA; RAUSKY, MARÍA EUGENIA

Living and working in poverty: trajectories of children, youth and adults in Latin America

Palgrave Macmillan

Año: 2019; p. 1 - 10

The life stories we tell in this book, the social conditions we interpret and the trajectories we analyze occur in territories of Latin America. According to various studies, this is the most unequal region in the world. Notwithstanding occasional periods of economic growth, inequality persists and is reproduced over time, causing serious problems and obstacles for the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals . Governments, political movements, civil organizations and individuals have all sought to combat and bring an end to poverty in a myriad of ways through, programs, plans and unequal investment. However, despite these efforts, poverty persists throughout Latin America. Poverty is reproduced as wealth is reproduced. While not unique to Latin America, the ongoing mechanisms that generates poverty and wealth are entrenched in the region?s economic, productive and social regimes and their systems of wealth accumulation.The chapters in this volume reconstruct an image of what it is like to live and work in poverty at different stages of life in four different countries Argentina, Brazil, Cuba and Mexico―during the same time frame. This shared period of time does not imply shared ideologies, public policies or a similar management of poverty in these countries.This introduction first traces a brief overview of the Latin American scene to show structural features of social inequality and poverty. Secondly, it shares the conceptual tools used in the research. Thirdly, and finally, it outlines the structure of this book.