The new urban poverty: Global, regional and Argentine dynamics during the last two decades

This article analyses the various dimensions of the “new poverty” which emerged during the 1980s and 1990s. It begins with a review of the definitions of the term in Europe, the United States and several Latin American countries. The case of Argentina is then examined, paying close attention to the pauperization of the middle class in that country at several points between the mid-1970s and the crisis of 2001. Structural poverty —an older phenomenon— is used as a point of reference to describe the characteristics of the new impoverishment, the adaptation strategies evolved to address it using cultural and social capital, the erosion of collective social identity and the urban dimension of pauperization. The article concludes with an analysis of the transformations experienced by the new poor since the issue was first examined, as well as the specific challenges it poses for public policy.