Critical Global Poverty Studies Group (CGPS)

The Critical Global Poverty Studies Group (CGPS) encompassed an interdisciplinary network of scientists attempting to reframe poverty research and to generate innovative pedagogic activities.

CGPS viewed poverty as produced through political, economic, and cultural mechanisms, connected and recurrent across space and (co)produced through human actions and places. The group argued for the simultaneity of the operation of materials processes and social constructions of poverty. CGPS' main focus was on social and global justice, whereby the poor are viewed as creative agents with the capacity to define their actions and futures. The group members approached their work with clear ethical dimensions regarding global and social justice.

CGPS was committed to engaging multiple audiences including policy actors, academics, social movements, non-governmental organisations, and the general public. It explicitly separated policy and action, arguing that there are multiple forms of action and social change emanating from multiple sites and politics.

CGPS managed to develop a large research project centred on the role of the middle classes in relation to the poor, including an examination of how middle classes understand and respond to poverty across the globe. A workshop in Bergen held in January 2010 explored the potential for comparative research on the links between middle class vulnerability, identities and poverty politics in Argentina, South Africa, Norway and the United States.

For results of the project, see the CGPS website