Peripheral Poverty

PERIPHERAL POVERTY IS THE impoverishment of isolated or marginal areas. This conception of poverty can be used to examine poverty within a single nation or region or can be extended to examine the socioeconomic conditions of peripheral nations within the world system.

While the lived experience of peripheral poverty is similar in nature to interstitial poverty, peripheral poverty is located on the outskirts of areas of power and wealth. Peripheral poverty can also share many of the same qualities found in persistent poverty.

While there are similarities within poverty types, those experiencing peripheral poverty may face additional obstacles to success. While those experiencing rural poverty may be more likely to experience poverty because of a lack of landownership, those experiencing peripheral poverty may actually own land. However, the type of land they own or have access to, is often nutrient depleted, difficult to farm, and may have a scarcity of water.

Without these critical factors the ownership of these lands is not useful and does not allow one to pursue agricultural efforts to gain adequate nutrition or additional resources through the sale of produce. While there may be limited ability to farm the land owned, many are unable to leave these areas for structural reasons or because there are few other social options available. Thus the inability of people living in peripheral poverty to farm their lands or to leave their land may enforce their inability to meet their basic needs, let alone move out of their economic position.

Water is an essential need of all people, so this limited resource may reinforce the inability to leave a land that has little water, particularly if surrounding areas have even fewer or unproven water resources. Without adequate water transportation systems there will be little increase in agricultural output. Even if water should become available to help enable limited agricultural output from these infertile soils, there may be limited or no available means to market these goods. The lack of water resources has been especially influential in various African and Arab arid environments and has resulted in some of the poverty in existence outside of more developed urban centers.

Without a transportation infrastructure and accessible market source, people who are able to produce goods while subsisting in peripheral poverty do not have an opportunity to improve their socioeconomic status. However, from the structural perspective there may be little social concern to address the issue of peripheral poverty, as these persons are less able to be involved in sociopolitical life and influence social change. Ultimately the peripheral poor may be neglected and forgotten not only for their limited political and economic influence, but also because of their social invisibility. These persons are less able to be seen in the more economically developed centers because of their limited resources and transportation potential.

Recent efforts in Germany to address issues of peripheral poverty have found that by actively seeking to [Page 821]involve these citizens within the political decision-mak-ing process, there is an increased vested interest in their cause. Representation that is influenced by those experiencing peripheral poverty has an increased incentive to actively voice the concerns of this underrepresented group.

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