Recognition of poverty and the plight of the poor a social problem
Beginning in the 1970s, member countries of the European Community began to recognize the need for new social policies and programs, such as a “basic income allowance”, to mitigate the negative impacts of poverty on both individuals and society. The justification for these programs was championed by a group of actors who developed a new understanding of ‘situations of necessity’ relating to citizens whose incomes fall below established poverty lines. For anti-poverty activists and claimants alike, these so-called ‘states of need’ are linked to employment status and to a multitude of other interdependent factors, such as job training, family condition and health. Existing social constructivist frameworks identify the transformation of post-war Catholicism and the rise of left-wing ideologies during the 1960s as the primary factors which drove recognition of the plight of the poor as the genesis for the introduction of new, anti-poverty social programs. With a focus on Spain, this paper will explain how the development of progressive social policies based on the recognition of poverty and the plight of the poor was also contingent on a number of national and international factors unique to the country, including the end of the Francoist dictatorship, the ongoing evolution of the Catholic Church, and Spain’s membership and participation in the European Community.