PAUPERISM. – A social phenomenon whereby, in a given historical period and territory, a portion of the population generally and continuously finds itself in economic conditions that make the satisfaction of its most elementary needs extremely difficult.
A certain extent of the phenomenon and its continuity therefore distinguish p. poverty (v.) or, better, distinguish the different perspective from which the phenomenon of the insufficiency of goods in relation to needs is considered.
I. PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY P
Although, in fact, p. is a phenomenon that, however limited, has always existed in every type of society and that will undoubtedly not disappear even in the future, when it has historically affected a particular society, it has extended over a large part of the population and persisted for a more or less long but in any case continuous period. With this clarification, it is possible to distinguish two forms of p.: one of a permanent nature and the other of a temporary nature. Permanent p. is the phenomenon whereby, in every age and in every society, including the economically most advanced, there has always existed, as there still exists, a more or less large number of individuals living in conditions of indigence; this results from the fact that no human society, however perfect it may be, will ever succeed in eliminating all the circumstances that can reduce an individual to conditions of misery. Illnesses, misfortunes, financial reverses, etc., together with other circumstances in which society’s mitigating intervention becomes difficult or even entirely absent, constitute factual situations that can never be lacking and that, even if apparently isolated and independent, determine, within a mass of millions of individuals, a continuous phenomenon of a troubling nature. Naturally, although permanent p. may assume forms that can be called normal, chiefly because of their limited extent, in certain countries it assumes a very different character. This is due above all to particularly unfavorable conditions presented by the country’s physical and economic environment, as well as to the degree of ability of its inhabitants to overcome the resistance posed by that environment. Thus, a territory poor in natural resources but abundant in population will undoubtedly be a country characterized by the existence of severe permanent p. Likewise, a country in which caste or class prejudices have produced deep divisions within society necessarily sees the emergence, among the so-called lower castes or classes, of alarming phenomena of p.Temporary p., on the other hand, is that caused by events or phenomena of an exceptional and extraordinary nature and which, as such, normally persists for as long as the effects of these events or phenomena last, whether those effects exhaust themselves or are eliminated through external intervention. Such are, for example, wars, economic crises, and natural catastrophes (floods, earthquakes, etc.) that destroy all kinds of goods. Thus, it is easy for economic crises—which, as has now been established, recur with a certain cyclical frequency—to produce permanent p., which in turn may be intensified by the consequences of a war (see, for example, the period between the two world wars). Likewise, wherever particular natural catastrophes recur with notable frequency (such as, for example, floods and epidemics in certain Eastern countries), it is clear that p., even if originally temporary in nature, is transformed into permanent p.
Whether permanent or temporary, p. is a phenomenon fraught with significant consequences. First of all, in the long run it brings about a deterioration in the physical condition of the various categories affected, which in turn causes a diminution of intellectual faculties, as well as frequent imbalances on the moral plane, so that, ultimately, there is a general decline in human personality.
II. STATE INTERVENTION
The consequences for society are then serious. Society, in fact, sees the number of those who become increasingly less capable of contributing to the economic, political, and social life of the country grow, and they disturb the country’s internal tranquility by becoming easy prey and a mass to be maneuvered by ideological and political currents that are extremist and subversive of the established order. Hence the perennial problem of taking steps to eliminate or at least reduce p.Naturally, depending on the greater or lesser social maturity of the various political communities, this action was and still is of very different nature and effectiveness. Broadly speaking, it is possible to distinguish between intervention by society that seeks solely or predominantly to eliminate p. without affecting the causes that produced it, and intervention that, while not ignoring the actual and contingent situation, seeks to identify its origins and to study the means of eliminating or preventing its effects. Historically, it can certainly be affirmed that society has gradually passed, though not always continuously, from a conception that was solely repressive of p., if not indeed merely of its consequences, to a broader conception whereby it seeks to prevent the phenomenon itself from arising, or to reduce its scope, or finally, by anticipating its consequences, to lessen them.
It is clear that when society is spoken of in this context, reference is made first and foremost to society politically organized, that is, to the State, whose task it is to protect those citizens who, by their own efforts alone, are unable to provide for the satisfaction of the most elementary needs. And indeed, it may be observed that from the simple provision of foodstuffs or other necessities of life (e.g., the famous frumentationes of ancient Rome), the State passed, in the Middle Ages and especially in the modern age, when various factors paved the way for new forms of economy that created immense masses of unemployed persons, to various types of economic intervention aimed at protecting the less well-off classes (e.g., the entire policy of price controls and, generally, the grain-supply policy; laws for the suppression of vagrancy; and the establishment of centers for the collection and assistance of the destitute, or even of work centers), and finally, after the not brief interlude of the laissez-faire period, during which the State returned, with regard to p., to a purely welfare function, to that broad social policy now established by almost all States, directed largely toward preventing, suppressing, or mitigating the consequences of p.; as well as to the same broader economic policy whenever it aims to create environmental conditions such as to minimize the possibility of p. arising.