Poverty
Conclusion
Poverty is an idea with a history that is particularly instructive. In the twenty-first century, poverty as a state of material and social deprivation is regarded as the standard meaning. But when examined historically, it can be seen that this meaning has far from dominated. In the history of Western experience (with echoes elsewhere) poverty had for a long period been considered a preferred condition, one where humans demonstrated their control both of their own nature and of the circumstances in which they found themselves.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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SECONDARY SOURCES
Berry, Christopher J. The Idea of Luxury: A Conceptual and Historical Investigation. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Covers episodically issues and debates from the Greeks to the present day.
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Christopher J. Berry
Additional topics
Science EncyclopediaScience & Philosophy: Positive Number to Propaganda - World War IiPoverty - Poverty As An Ideal, Changing Conceptions Of Poverty, The Problem Of The Poor, Relativism And Equality