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Poverty, Injustice, and Inequality as Challenges for Christian Humanism

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Schlag, M., Ortiz, D. (Eds.) (2018). Poverty, Injustice, and Inequality as Challenges for Christian Humanism. Duncker & Humblot. https://doi.org/10.3790/978-3-428-55456-0
Schlag, Martin and Ortiz, Daniela. Poverty, Injustice, and Inequality as Challenges for Christian Humanism. Duncker & Humblot, 2018. Book. https://doi.org/10.3790/978-3-428-55456-0
Schlag, M, Ortiz, D (eds.) (2018): Poverty, Injustice, and Inequality as Challenges for Christian Humanism, Duncker & Humblot, [online] https://doi.org/10.3790/978-3-428-55456-0

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Poverty, Injustice, and Inequality as Challenges for Christian Humanism

Editors: Schlag, Martin | Ortiz, Daniela

Soziale Orientierung, Vol. 27

(2018)

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About The Author

Martin Schlag is Doctor iuris at the University of Vienna, Austria, and Doctor Theologiae at the Pontifical University Santa Croce, Rome. In 1996 he was ordained a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei. From 2008 to 2017 professor for social moral theology at the Pontifical University Santa Croce, Rome, as well as cofounder and Director of its Research Centre Markets, Culture and Ethics. Since 2015 also professor for Business Ethics at the University Roma 2 Tor Vergata, and since 2016 at the IESE Business School in Barcelona. 2012 appointment as Consultant to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. As of August 2017 Professor for Catholic Social Thought, Holder of the Alan W. Moss endowed Chair for Catholic Social Thought at the Center for Catholic Studies, University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), Director of the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought.

Daniela Ortiz holds a PhD in Philosophy (Pontifical University of the Holy Cross/Rome) and a Master in Business Administration (University of Innsbruck/Austria). She is Senior Researcher and Lecturer at the »Research Cluster for SMEs and Family Business«, in the area of Corporate Governance and Business Ethics, at the FH Wien University of Applied Sciences for Management & Communication (Vienna). Her research interests include the ethical and anthropological foundations of the free market system, as well as the guiding principles of sustainable and ethical management. She has also worked on the institutional and individual conditions for effective public-private partnerships for poverty alleviation.

Abstract

Both in religious and in secular culture there is an acute awareness that poverty, destitution, and misery should be eliminated, and that it is possible to achieve this goal. Despite this common aim, strategies for fighting poverty vary widely among the disciplines. This book interprets poverty in the light of Christian faith and ventures beyond the dual public-private model. Pope Francis has called on business leaders around the world to spread a new mindset in business that acknowledges the poor and the marginalized. In doing so, he deplores inequality and injustice. These concepts pose an intellectual challenge to Christian humanism, which the authors, leading scholars on the subject, take up. The book opens with a series of chapters on the economic dimensions of poverty, inequality, and injustice, and turns to the philosophical and theological aspects in its second part. Even though rigorously academic, the ideas in this book are transformative. The social market economy places the human person at the center of the economy, and it offers a model that can be implemented, under this or other names, in many parts of the world.Both in religious and in secular culture there is an acute awareness that poverty, destitution, and misery should be eliminated, and that it is possible to achieve this goal. Despite this common aim, strategies for fighting poverty vary widely among the disciplines. This book interprets poverty in the light of Christian faith and ventures beyond the dual public-private model. Pope Francis has called on business leaders around the world to spread a new mindset in business that acknowledges the poor and the marginalized. In doing so, he deplores inequality and injustice. These concepts pose an intellectual challenge to Christian humanism, which the authors, leading scholars on the subject, take up. The book opens with a series of chapters on the economic dimensions of poverty, inequality, and injustice, and turns to the philosophical and theological aspects in its second part. Even though rigorously academic, the ideas in this book are transformative. The social market economy places the human person at the center of the economy, and it offers a model that can be implemented, under this or other names, in many parts of the world.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Martin Schlag and Daniela Ortiz: Poverty, Injustice, and Inequality as Challenges for Christian Humanism 5
Bibliography 8
Inhaltsverzeichnis 11
Part I: Poverty 13
Roger Myerson: Public Political Capital for Economic Development 15
Abstract 15
I. An Economist's Appreciation of Political Capital 15
II. Summary of the Theory: Democratic Decentralization Encourages Better Leadership 17
III. Questions of Political Decentralization in Kenya 18
IV. Rethinking International Assistance 21
Bibliography 21
Joseph Kaboski: Christian Humanism and Poverty in the World 23
Abstract 23
I. Defining Poverty 23
1. Progress in the Fight Against Poverty 25
2. The Role of Economic Growth 27
II. Understanding the Problem of Poverty 28
III. Poverty and Happiness 30
IV. Conclusion 32
Bibliography 32
Gerhard Kruip: Ethical and Theological Aspects of Poverty According to Pope Francis 35
Abstract 35
I. Primacy of Orthopraxis 36
II. Option for the Poor 37
III. Overcoming the “Structures of Sin” 39
IV. The Church as People of God Serving the Poor 41
V. Global Justice 42
Bibliography 46
Marcelo F. Resico: Poverty, its Causes and Orientations to Remedy. A Social Market Economy Point of View 49
Abstract 49
I. The Short-Term Macro Challenge: Lessons from the Great Recession 49
II. Responding to the Problem of the Global Market Adjustment Process 51
III. The Human Dimension of Technology: Pace of Change and Decentralization 52
IV. Strengthening the Productive Capacities of the SMEs 54
V. The Necessary Expansion in the Provision of Public Goods in the Developing World 56
VI. Structural Barriers of Public Policy in Developing Countries 57
VII. A Global Social Market Economy: Economy and Institutions 59
Bibliography 61
Part II: Injustice and Inequality 65
Maria Sophia Aguirre: Inequality and Growth: Exploring a Relational Dimension 67
Abstract 67
I. Introduction 67
II. Types of Economic Inequalities Other than Income 69
III. Relational Dimension of Inequality and Integral Economic Development Framework 75
IV. Agency vs. Integral Economic Development at the Household Level 77
V. Conclusion 79
Bibliography 80
Daniel Haun: Through the Eyes of Children: A Developmental Psychologist's View on Fairness 85
Abstract 85
I. Deep roots of the human sense of fairness 85
ll. Cultural variation in children's sense of fairness 89
Bibliography 92
Bruce D. Baker: Gleaning as a Transformational Business Model for Solidarity with the Poor and Marginalized 95
Abstract 95
Overview of Biblical References to Gleaning 96
Commentary on Gleaning 97
Theological Interpretation of Gleaning as a Business Practice: Gleaning in the Pentateuch 100
Gleaning in the Prophets 104
Gleaning in the Book of Ruth 105
Implications for Business 107
Conclusion: Transformational Business Models 109
Bibliography 111
Brian Griffiths: The Challenge of Inequality 115
Abstract 115
I. Empirical Evidence on Equality and Inequality 115
Reasons for Growing Inequality 117
II. The Paradox of Increasing Equality, Increasing Poverty and Increasing Social Exclusion 118
III. Equality and Diversity in Creation 120
IV. A Political Economy of Economic Justice and Social Inclusion 121
V. Jesus and the Early Church 123
VI. A Personal View 125
VII. Policy Issues regarding Inequality and the Market Economy 126
VIII. Three Policy Initiatives for Tackling Exclusion 127
IX. Conclusion 128
Bibliography 128
Martin Schlag: Justice and Partiality for the Poor and Marginalized 131
Abstract 131
I. Justice and Gift 131
II. The Preferential Option for the Poor 133
III. Preference and Impartiality 136
IV. How Can We Apply a Preferential Option for the Poor in the Real World of Business and in Economics? 136
1. Epistemological conversion 137
2. Solidarity as Love of the Common Good, Global Justice 138
3. Social Justice (Entitlement) and Charity are not Alternatives; they Require each Other 140
Bibliography 141
John Buchmann: Whose Injustice? Which Inequality? 143
Abstract 143
Introduction 143
I. Two Trajectories 145
1. Relative Equality and Post-Conciliar Catholic Social Teaching 145
2. Participation, Or Equality of Opportunity 147
II. A Third Trajectory 149
1. The Leonine Tradition 151
2. The Turning Point? 156
3. Benedict XVI and Francis: Renewing the Quest for Praxis 158
Conclusion 162
Bibliography 162
Arnd Küppers: Equality in Catholic Social Teaching and the Concept of Social Justice 165
Abstract 165
I. Egalitarianism and its View on Equality/Inequality 165
1. John Rawls and the Egalitarian Concept of Justice 165
2. The Criticism Against Egalitarianism 167
II. Equality and Inequality in Catholic Social Teaching and its Concept of Social Justice 170
1. The Postconciliar Understanding of Justice 170
2. Pope Francis on Inequality and Justice 172
III. Conclusion 175
Bibliography 176
Part III: Case studies 179
Domènec Melé, Alejandro Moreno-Salamanca and Juan Manuel Parra: A Hybrid Corporate Community Involvement in an Impoverished Neighborhood: Analysis of a Case Study from the Catholic Social Teaching Perspective 181
Abstract 181
I. Introduction 181
II. Case Description 183
1. The Socio-Economic Context in Which EPM Operates 183
2. Two Programs for a Slum Neighborhood 186
3. Economic and Social Outcomes 187
III. Evaluation of the Project Through the Perspective of CST Principles 189
IV. Discussion 191
V. Conclusion 193
Bibliography 194
Odra Angélica Saucedo Delgado: The moral content of the reciprocity systems amongst poor families: A case study in three townships located within Mexico City's metropolitan area 195
Abstract 195
I. Introduction 195
II. Research setting 197
1. Nezahualcóyotl 197
2. La Paz (Los Reyes) 197
3. Ixtapaluca 198
4. Marginalization and Poverty in the Fieldwork Research Site 198
III. Data Collection Method 201
1. Characteristics of the Households Interviewed 202
IV. Mexican Poor Households' System of Reciprocity 203
1. Current Poor Households' Livelihood Strategies 204
2. The Systems of Reciprocity in Mexico 205
a) The Mexican Family 206
b) Intra-household social relations 207
V. Conclusions 208
Bibliography 209
Short bios 211
Index of Names 213
Subject Index 215