INEQUALITY AND POVERTY: [A MARXIST-GEOGRAPHIC THEORY ar “This paper i an attempt at synthesizing two concepts: the Marsst pin ciple that inequality and poverty ae tneviably. produced by caps, Sccieties, and the socal geographic idea that inequality may be passed on from one generation othe next via the euvizonment of opportunities and services into which each individuals impanted a bith Hence the objec tive of the paper isto combine a powerfl theoretical explanation ofthe ‘origins of inequality with some empirically derived generalizations about ‘nho ie poor and extly how inequaiy persists under conditions of “ad anced” capitalism The new insights which sacha synthesis provides are badly needed, for earier inequality theories (cltre of poverty the cycle tf deprivation) have received severe academic critic, although they Fenmatn the basi of anipoverty polices designed to change family and individual rather than socal ané economic srutute, in most western Countries A Marcased theory salvo needed within he narrow confines ft the geographic discipline ax the bass ofan alternative conceptual ‘lewpoin to those that contin to preval i the Bel ‘A Marxist Theory of inequality ‘The Marxist view i that inequity is inherent inthe capitalist mode of production. inequality inevably produced during the normal operat bt eapitalist economies, and canot be eradicated without fundamentally tering the mechaaisms of capitalism. In aditon, itis funtion co the "stems which meane that powerholders havea vested interest in presen ing socal inequality. There i itl point, therefore, in devoting politcal tnergies tothe advocacy of policies which dal ony withthe symptoms of Inequality without altering ite Basie generating forces. Hence the cll for ‘cal and economic revolution, the overthrow of capitalism, andthe sob- INEDUALTY AND POVERTY 18, station ofa method of production and an associated way oflife designed, ‘round the principles of eqvality and social justice. hrractass noqualtios ‘According to Mary, income inequality is inherent inthe wages system, ‘Under capitalism human labor—lMe-time, effort, thought, and set} treated at a mere commodity to be bought by an employer for a certain price, or wage, Mars arguedhat wages must cover not only basi sbsis- {ence to mantan tre body but slzo some socily defined wants to ep the worker relatively content and fo fuel economic growth. In addition ‘wages contain the coms of replacing "worn-out workers with new ones” (tthe cost of raising and educating children; thats the developmen of faure laboring power through eduestion andthe acqusidon of skils2 AS Aillerest types of labor require different levels of education and skill so ‘rages must dlls between various categories of workers. Asa first regu {eretore, income inequality is necessary 10 produce the variety of labor needed by the various levee of a mulitede of diferent economic activi ties. Secondly, by allocating the cost of social reproduction through the ‘rage mechanism, by allowing each “race of workers” co produce is re- placement, the eaptaliet system ensures inequality of accesso the sill, [irarehy within the working class. Thirdly, inequality of accesso edoca- toh and sil allows groupe of wage and income earners to exaggerate theincome difference iherent inthe sil hierarchy by partialy monopo- lings and thus restricting the labor supply int certain levels oF he abor hierarchy, Inequalities oftacome and opportmity within the ess af wage snd salary earners are ths built into the wages system. Hence, Marx Seclared, "to amour for equal ore quae reibution on the bass of the wages system the sane a to amour for frndon on the basis ofthe savory system, What you think ie just or eqiable is out ofthe question “The quewion is: What is necessary and unavoidable with a given system ‘of production?” And the poltialconchsion forthe working class? Send ofthe eerste moto, "Aadays wage fora fae day's wOrAT they ‘ught to inscribe onthe banner the raabutnary watchword, “Abolition ‘of the wages systemt""™ Intrciassnoqualtios Inreturn for wages, the capitalist receives ving labor power, the creative fovce by which the worket not only replaces what he consumes Du also ‘produces surplus, which gcrues tothe capitalist, Infact, expt elt (the raw materials, instruments, and machinery of production) has been produced by surpius labor power in the past Capital i historical labor power accunalated by the epitalist class because it has been able to pay [bora sum ess than the value ofthe goods produced bythe workers,ithas been abe to exploit them. private enterprie economy, therefore, will inevitably have reat income inequaies between the capita css, ‘Thich controls the ure of accumulated past labor and receives part ofthe roducion of many workers inthe form of profi, and the proletariat, Fopmers merely of bor power” which receives income ony tn the form of wages? Ore tie, ot ait ccm, Mare argued that inter ineqalies wil grow. He recognized thatthe income of the worker in creauce a certain times, such a during periods of rapid economie devel ‘pment, and that poverty tends to diminish during such periods, but he Sfgued that over the long term the acumslaon of capital places an ineteasing share of national income in the hands ofthe owners ofthe means of production. The material position ofthe worker may improve, bat this isa the cost ofhis relative social position* Thu, in terms of dass quai, the interests of capital and the interests of labor in econsinie ‘development are dametrially opposed “he Functions of equalty Social meqalyis, of course, extremely useful as aspurto greater efforts ‘on the part of wage and slary earners, particularly na highly scquiiier, ‘leila county lke the United States. New trends in consumption re constantly introduced in the upper echelons of the socal hierarchy, tence they difise downvards through an extremely efficient stem of onsumplion-oriented communications media, untl even the very poor “stpeople are infected by the newest commodity mania. Te vast majority. of people are caught ina never-ending struggle to earn suiient income to low them to consume ina sje or volume similar tothe paccseters ofthe consumption group sbore them. This typeof inequality is highly functional in that it ensures that even the diren and mon boring of jobs act done, and it extracts the lat ouneeof eat fom the labor fore In the end tin alo a soure of systemic weakoes, for inequality is foetal bniyas long ab “the unequal” bleve there ia chance they ean achieve St least a rensonablefactimile ofthe consumption ofthe upper clasts. inequality isthe source of enormous frustration and alenation among troups which no longer belive inthis chance, aod the socal problems Wich result from such elings represent one ofthe most fundamental Contadictibns of advanced capitalism. ‘A Martist Theory of Poverty Marx also explained how the normal operation of capitalism necessarily produces a more-crless permanent underclass of unemployed and, therefore, por people. ‘Tho Etfcts ot Mecharaton ‘The dive for prof, Marx argued, leads the capital constantly to reduce ‘costs of production through a greater division of abor and the introduc: tion and improvement of machinery. Mechanizaton race the toplis ‘exploitable by the owners ofthe means of production by increasing the productiviy af labor, nd thus increases the capt avaiable for reinnese ‘ment in more machinery, faites, and raw materials. Production costs aremore-and-more the costsof depreciating machinery, and lest-and-less the costs of hiring labor as capaism develops and at machines increas. ingly are used. Marv elle this a change in the organic composition of capital concomitant with the growth of socal wealth: constant capital (toney used to acquire and depreciate machinery, buildings, and ray sis increased relative to variable capital (money used to purchase labor power). Thus the relative demand for labor fal as capitalist eco nomic development takes place. Faster and faster race of economic {grow are needed to absorb new entrants to the job market, or even {0 Keep existing workers employed. Increasingly a relative surplus popula tion arises® The growth of surplus, unwanted, unneeded labor force may bbe postponed by extremely rapid economic. development, sich 85 wat ‘made possible by the expansion of the North American frontier i the nineteenth and early entieth centuries, o the period of suburbaniraion nd mass purchase of consumer goods that immediately followed Word ‘War Il-but reliance onthe frantic buying of consumer goods to keep the ‘cconomy going ha the builtin dangers that peopl wll eventealy become bored widhconsuming, or that pressure on the avaiable natural resource base wll become too gat and growth wil olapse. Ther is abundant reeent evidence ofthe later, and the Marstt economist Pal Smecry ‘aims thatthe former has been happening for rome years without enor ‘mous iniliary spending, the Upted States economy would be "as pr fondly depressed as it was during the great Depression.” Marin theory thus forecasts thatthe unfettered growth of capitalism generates 4 mats of unemployed workers, and wil eventually lead to widespread detachment of workers fom the mechanized means of producing income, fan event which wil create the necessary conditions for soil revolution ‘Tho nda Reserve Army For their day-to-day, year-to-year, operation, Marx sai that capitalist, ‘economies nced an “induschl rercrve army,” pool of poor people who fan be used and discarded at the eaptalia’s will Economic devclopment foes not proceed smoothy under capitalism. There are sudden bursts of txpansion as new markets open ap; even old dedining industries bloom again during econdimic booms. In auch a situation the economy needs ‘Quick (ansfuson of labora labor reserve is necesary, tobe pulled into18 NEQUALTY MNO POVERTY Teetyrecene immigrants tothe city and dicarded ast migrants who Soret mig Sgeetaaeagemairec "fc ese of he Marat angument hrf, that nea i reg ca sce: nen equated overt ar vial the see lg wtp Enveonmest an ecuaty sine rrneetncory argues that nequly rust occur in opti ystems. I Mara aco Fg wa the rea forces which ape millon of ives vrais one ndvidal ules he ean se how hs if, andthe odor reumotanes which surround iis ino the general patterns INEQUALITY AND POVERTY 17 which Marx predicted. Environmental or geographic, theory deals with the mechanisms which perpetuate inequality from the point of vew ofthe Individual le deals withthe complex of forees, both stmult and feions, ‘hich immediately shape the couree of a person's fe. Its the perfec, ‘hicrscale complement to the macroscale Marxian analysis. ‘Toe Emvironment of Socal Resources ‘The individual's struggle oxen income akes place in 2 certain physica, och and economic environment. This nvirgament may be thought of fea set of resources ervces, contacts, and opportunties—sith which the individual interact. The eventual result ofthis interaction isthe Production of goods and services Tor the society and income forthe Individual, "The most important components of physical environment are house and neighborhood, whic nuence the individual's prodoctvity through factors such a8 physical and mental health, Schools, colleges, techical institutes and othe laborrsining facies are the most important socal Fnattationaliftuences, although a wide variety of other institutions play 2 vole in readying the individual for work. These “background factors” nay be thought of as determinants ofa person's "income earning poten Ti” his theoretical income productivity given unlimited econotic op portunity. Before this productivity ean be realize, however, the individual fst have some connection with economic actives The mos significant Connections art formed by the people whom the individual Knows-—ihe ends and relatives of his octal network." Socal nework provides both information sbowt economic opportunity and a gateway to this opport- nity. Background institutions and information networks together form the social resoures" available to an individual Income is then prodced by fraction wih economic aetvities, and the amount ofthis income in ur influences access to social resources. ‘Central to the idea of geography of inequality i the realization that, person may only exploit ihe social resources of alimited section of space invorder to ready himself for thelabor market!” This iden best explained. by Higersrand’s time-space model which describes 3 dale environ ‘ment around persoa’s place of residence, the mits of which are deter thined bythe pysicalfetions of distance and the socospaial rctions ‘of class and race’ Each age group, each socal das, each racial group, ‘cach sex, har a ifferent sted typical daily “prism in wich to operate For the fowest carr and most discriminated against groups, the prism closes into pron of space snd revouress “The simple Higersirand model includes only some ofthe factors iit- ing the extent of s person's daly-lfe envionment The point here, how- ‘ver, is nol to embellish the ime-space model by relating i (0 other18 NEQUALTY a0 POVERTY imeraction models, but to apply the concept othe explanation of nequa ity transnasion, Tis clear that an individual must derive services, infor ‘ation, and connections fom the social resource complex formed bythe people and institions within the daiyfe environment open to hin, Fat, however, the extent ofthe exploitable environment varies with mo- ‘ily, whch in turn varies with nial income. Second, che density of socal, ‘evources in diferent esviroaments varies. Third, and most important} the quality of resources aluo diferst some school systems are beter than ‘thers, some localized socal networks have more information of higher sual than others, and so on Thue we can think fan individual ay {hg the imprint of am environment of s cetain size, density, and quality ae ventures into interaction yrith au economic opportunity surface, which similarly varies im size, density, and quai. Socal environment Interacts through the individual wid economic opportunity surface to produce income Deficiencies in the quay of either surface produce low Frcome nits turn low inome influences acess 1, and quality of, social ‘source enviroment and economic opportunity surface A sl einfore: Jing process thus begins which effectively sets the parameters of come for the vast jor of peopl. ‘The intuanco of Social Cass Z’peeson’s environmental resources and his évenual access to an eco ‘mie opportunity surface thus depend very much omnia income, oF thesocial ass fis patents In other mords an indvidals css position is iaherted from his parents va the quality of the socal and economic institutional envionment into which he is orn, or within which he Hives forthe ist year of his if, Parent struggle to improve the environmen talcontent oftheir children, hoping thereby to provide the means for their Upward soil mobility, Ths struggle to improve the family environment tray take place in sit, through upgrading the neighborhood (investing in Toca series), or through migration toa neighborhood which provides ‘aiplife environments wih the desired characteristics. Both require the parents scrficing immediate consumption for inyesimentin the Fai's ture. The fay thus bas an enormeus stake in the local environment, for tepresents both the sacrifices of the past and hope forthe fami’ fare: Phe domain (eet of dall-lfe environments) sed by 2 certain, troup of working-class families, for example, represents a scarce source ‘Ef opward mobilty, and its ure ie Sercely protected against other groups which might weaken or "pollute the resource base contained inthe do Thain This rection to outsides," which inthe United States takes the tbvious form of racial and ethniegroup discrimination, can be traced back to the practice of reproducing the labor force by the wage system, and is intensified by 2 general lack of mobility opportunity. Atthis point cnvironmenta theory needs tobe linked back ito Marist analyse which txplans the context in which man interact wth socioeconomic environ. tment in capitalist countries Synthesis of Theories ‘Themonmal operation of the capitalist economic system produces a et of toca casts which have fren Sancion and ore unequal wih egad to income, power and satu. Each cls, even each satus wiina dar, ‘Salonedo reproduce ts sing parton ofthe income a he present eneraon to re, eae, and tan the generation of fate part ‘pants in the system of production. The adult generation: invests inthe foci resoree envionment used bythe growing generation, anda the {oun fone loco hc re smn wih ay invested in socahresourees var, prodscing unequal enronmentt which perpetuate that cass system fa ‘Tho Hirarey of Eviroeents ‘The hierarchy ofresurceentronments which makes up the social geog- raphy of the modern ciy i ur a response tote fierachil bor ‘demands ofthe sban economy. just ase capital syste of production ‘ust lead toshierarehial soc das strato, so tiast provide ier fntated socal rexooree eowtonments in which each cae teprodces ‘nell Change in the hierarchy of environments, and thin he Sciapa {al suctre of the cy, ochre under the influence af change i labor seman encom ih conocer ones of eon irom, demand inreaes for certain ypes of abor, cresting temporary Shortage, higher wages and thi the incentive for sn increased suppy af ‘hose kinds of morkers Development sso provides the funds nccsary fora reorientation of those labor supplying resource systems which pr dice workers with needed sis by money channeled through higher wages By relying pray on the wage system to produce ‘new bor Supple, capitalism necessary preserves socal inequalities. Despite ts inerenty inegaaran srctre, the process docs nt nccertily produce gret socal stress loog i all envonmaents ore improving, snd as long a thee some chante tobe mobile hom one ssn nk a om ne enone ber oe bles {ppear ony when an economie deprension reverses the proces (prod intowe ager nnn ee nd nor hen he oer ing telation of lack of mobility opportony pieces the myth that “creryone has 4 chance if he works hard enough* When whole groups rede they have no chance to improve theo that a central iy sn‘20 neQuALTY 80 POVERTY ‘ra wornout working class neighborhood is going tobe ther home ad their children’s home for fe, the potential for widespread protest exists Such protest occurred during the 1960s inthe black areas of American cies Why? ‘Tho Origins of Back Protest ‘Marx pointed out that as economic development proceeds under capita Jam te organic composition of eapital tends to change, trom an emphasis ‘omits vargble component to feetter proportions of constant capital [0 ans trma hs increasing eupharis on constant capital creates new job Spportunites for white-colar labor (i organization, administration Petition, and sles), but causes decreae in the feaive demand for Fiscal labor, and expecially for production workers Since World War tl environmental esoutces in white-collar and even some blue-collar neighbortoods have been greatly improved, o provide the more educa nore “cultured” labor supplies needed. The poorer tural areas and {Re slums ofthe cenal cies have been neglected, because of stagwation {nthe demand for thet labor, hence wages below te modern subsistence level which eave no exces for investment inthe improvement of the loca fevironment. Ofcourse the servic Secor and industries in peripheral tnanufactring continue to need raw, unskilled labor, but mechanization has removed the incentive to upgrade this labor in readiness for mass Tmobiliy imo the regular industrial economy. Reproducing raw labor power needs only an environment capable of barely supporting life, incu ing minimal kl, and ejecting a strong doxe a the work ethic. Lower {ass areas are thus deprived ofthe money needed to provide the high levels of health, edacation, an sil of mile class aveas, They a intr tal eservation forthe reacrve army ofthe barely employed, areas which peviodally burst into violence, and which could form geographic bases of revit. Planning for an Egalitarian Society ‘Achieving socal equals will mean far more than the Hberal policy of Transferring income through the tax system. Troe socal equality ca be tchieved only by changing the generating forces of inejualtysas these are Fandamenal to the operatqn ofthe capital production system, social qualzaion necessarily involves great changes that system, and espe Sliy cial control over the means of prodciog income, The equality ‘evolution wll entail even more than this, however. 8s incomes come tO ‘eflea the needs of fama rather than the needs of a privately owned. Fyatem of production, new method of socially reproducing 2 skilifey- Chsted labor force mill have to be designed, Sacalzation of control over labor reproduction and therefore environment is this 2 cooly ofit- ‘ome squalation “Geographers can hasten the achievement of eqsality by producing persunsv! alternative nodes of evironmenl conta od desig. The Tostabvius alternative model tan increase cee, state contal over itvesimentin the socal rerource environment to enaure dat equality is thieved."The problem wi tis model, however is bureaucraization, with presling lack of sense of contol over one’s envionment. An Thtnclve aernive mode, developed in its most sopbistcated form by ihc anarhist involve deccnralize, worker ownerpip ofthe means of preduction and lined sytem of commonity contol ver environment [debate between proponents of there ateratve spatal models would ip produce persuasive ideas sbout popular contcl over environmen trorsindlife People developin continuous response tothe otal environ. Thent and dose of us onthe lef believe that existing evronmens cripple Fir kuman evelopment. We can best hep to flour vision ofthe “le man by designing envionment models which ar, atthe same tin, egtarian snd iberasing egalitarian in that they provide he base for‘anlaheren eqaiy, and liberating in tat they algo allow the fll rf hin niu person Weare hu cone Ed’byan amon cverwbehming tsk, yt the geography of ftare equal ‘Semnds our atenton, feomsey “Hee i By ace anes hr Ya ena 15 Bt Ct Tr 9 Rey a ‘ Moin: Hew, 172,