The global social problem : challenges for a Research School like CERES

Abstract

The text starts with a reminder of the historical roots of the debate about the social problem in early industrial England, and connects it with the current debate about social exclusion and poverty, with an example from South Africa. Poverty issues should be related to the debates about labour conditions and labour rewards and about the variety of capitalist transformations taking place in the era of globalisation and of global social polarisation. But understanding poverty also demands a multi-facetted approach, with attention for images of poverty in a comparative cultural perspective. As a research school CERES regards it as the core of her work. The inaugural lecture ends with twelve points for action in CERES and reminds us of the current relevance for our work of the old myths around the Goddess CERES. May she protect us!