Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, Wildavsky Conference Room 2538
Channing Way
Can philanthropy alleviate inequality? Do anti-poverty programs work on the ground? In The Self-Help Myth, Erica Kohl-Arenas, Assistant Professor at the Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy, seeks to answer these questions in this eye-opening analysis. She reveals how philanthropy maintains systems of inequality by focusing on the “behavior” of poor people and ignornig the structural inequalities that produce poverty.
These strategies rely on American ideals of individualism and hard work, but when used in partnership with limits around what foundations will fund, these ideals become ill-defined concepts that leave poverty and inequality untouched.
Kohl-Arenas bores deeply into how this plays out in California’s Central Valley, one of the wealthiest agricultural regions in the world and home to the poorest people in the US.
Sponsored by the Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy.