Where do the poor come from?
The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time
By: Karl Polanyi
The Industrial Revolution not only changed life in the way that business is done, but it changed our relationship with the land. Our relationship with the land is a reflection of our relationship with the poor. Before the industrial revolution it seems to me that life and work were intermingled. Work was something you did in order to eat and provide for your family. Work wasn’t something that defined you and gave a sense of purpose and meaning in life. Meaning came from your relationships and families.
Please don’t get me wrong; I’m not trying to romanticize the past. I realize that life was difficult and poverty is not the direct result of the industrial revolution but this event opened the door to life as we know it today… and today, there is a huge gap between the rich, the working poor, and the poor… and at the root of this gap is the idea that humans and land are disposable.
What do we do when we’ve stripped the land of everything that’s good in it? We leave it bare and move on to another piece of land that we eventually destroy. What do we do with the poor and marginalized… what do we do with “the stranger and alien” who doesn’t fit into what we think is normal or beautiful, we push them to the margins of the city… or the slums… out of sight, out of mind. Sometimes we give them the land that we no longer want and expect a thank you in return.
When the industrial revolution opened the door to this separation of work and life it changed our vocabulary in such a way that it distanced us from the earth and one another. Human activity was beginning to be thought of, as labor, nature turned to land and money, became a token of power. (p75) The change in vocabulary made it easier for us to take advantage of people and push to the fringes those who didn’t fit our needs.
In 1782 John M’Farlane said, “The greatest number of poor is not to be found in barren countries or amid barbarous nations, but in those which are most fertile and the most civilized.” (p109) His words ring true today. We look at places around the world like Honduras and Haiti… two places where poverty is queen, and we can think of many reasons why they are the way they are, but we fail to look in our own back yards and see the pain and injustice that is caused by poverty. This is because it’s easier to fix others, than it is to fix ourselves. We love our affluence and comfort a lot more than we love people.
“The challenge facing the global community today is whether it can address these balances (rich and poor/ hunger and fear) before it’s too late.” (xvii) We must figure out a way to bridge the gap, but “regulations may take away someone’s freedom, but in doing so they may enhance another’s.” (xvi) The questions is, am I willing to give up some of my freedom in order to enhance another’s?
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