On the street: destitution

The poorest of the poor are sometimes referred to as destitute. How are we to understand destitution and how does it relate to political economy?

Destitution has distinct economic, social and political aspects. Destitute people have lost control over any assets they may have had and have lost access to income from their own labour. As a process, destitution has been viewed as a series of events that brings about the loss of important assets, in turn causing other losses, after which things can never return to what they were before.

Although destitution happens to individuals, it requires the loss of insurance mechanisms, such as gifts or loans from friends and relatives. Social rules relating to caste, gender and community also determine the people who are not entitled to enter the labour market.

Destitution means losing rights and access to social support, common property, and public goods and services. It means not being able to exercise claims (for example, when people with leprosy are disentitled) and being rejected from relationships of dependence, such as adults refusing to support elderly relatives. Rather than being passively, socially excluded, destitute people have been actively, socially expelled. They may experience violence and their property may be taken from them.

The laws affecting destitution may make this condition worse. The law may actively cause destitution, both in writing and in practice. Vagrancy is often a crime, while begging is to be 'prevented'. The occupations of destitute people are criminalised - not only sex work and transporting and selling drugs, but also street trading. Putting up a shelter goes against planning laws, pedestrians' rights and laws to do with public nuisance and trespass. Enforcement generally involves being jailed. Destitute people cannot get bail or satisfaction through the courts, and police may request money from them in exchange for not detaining them.

The most common occupation of the destitute is begging. Not having an address means no access to identity cards, which in turn means no public goods and services. When asked, destitute people report that their basic needs are firstly, physical security for their bodies and their few possessions, then sanitation and washing facilities, and access to healthcare (including food and water). The state takes no notice of them unless and until these people have voting rights or present some sort of threat - for example, to the security of other people's property. In response, the destitute are usually evicted. Social welfare for the poor often excludes the destitute. For instance, few destitute people reach the age of 60 and therefore they do not qualify for the old age pension.

Barbara Harriss-White
Queen Elizabeth House
Oxford University
21 St Giles
Oxford OX1 3LA
UK

T +44 (0)1865 273613
F +44 (0)1865 273607
barbara.harriss@qeh.ox.ac.uk

See also
'A Note on Destitution', QEH Working Paper Series 86, by B. Harriss-White, 2002

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