Search Results

Explores recent trends in developing and transitional economies in rural–urban, rural, and urban inequality of income and poverty risk, and the offsetting trends in inequality hypothesis (OTI), which claims that, underlying the overall inequality trend, there has been a tendency for rising intrasectoral inequality to be offset by falling rural–urban inequality. The data reviewed in the chapter refute OTI with the possible, partial exception of Latin America: first, the data show no overall tendency for within‐country rural–urban inequality to increase or decrease since the 1980s; second, while modest national and regional tendencies exist, they do not, on the whole, offset trends in overall inequality. Urban–rural ratios of both mean consumption and poverty risk have commonly either risen or fallen alongside total inequality, or even been trendless. Changing urban–rural ratios of poverty or per‐person consumption need not imply changing urban bias; they may be caused by exogenous changes in relative returns to urban activities, plus entry or exit barriers, although rural‐urban inequality trends in ‘human development’ indicators (literacy, longevity, etc.) do suggest rising urban bias. The chapter is arranged in three sections: Introduction and Summary; Rural–Urban and Intrasectoral Contributions to Changes in the Overall Inequality of Consumption or Income—an econometric analysis; and Changing Rural–Urban Poverty Ratios and ‘Urban Bias’.

This chapter develops a sociology of drift from the classic works of Robert Park, Georg Simmel, David Matza, Gresham Sykes, and others. It reconsiders Sykes and Matza’s “techniques of neutralization” model, arguing that it embodies a deeper sociological and cultural critique than that which is commonly attributed to it. The chapter then constructs a political economy and spatial economy of drift which locates drift within contemporary urban dynamics of “consumption-driven urban development,” spatial displacement, anti-homeless initiatives, risk-based and place-based policing, broken-windows policing, and CPTED. The chapter concludes by considering these dynamics in the context of spatial alienation and transgression.

Traditionally used by various ethnic groups and peasants in the region of Putumayo-Caqueta, Colombia, yage remained confined for decades to rural and urban folk sectors. However, since the early nineties, ritual consumption of yage has had a profuse dissemination among middle and elite social sectors in cities across the country. Increasingly, intellectuals and artists are inviting taitas (indigenous shamans) to perform yage ceremonies in the city. Offered as “traditional indigenous medicine,” yage consumption has been institutionalized around new taitas who combine practices of indigenous traditions with new ritual forms. More recently, urbanization of yage has led to the formation of clusters of neoyageceros around these new taitas. Best known as malocas, these groups have institutionalized ritual consumption of yage, offering numerous kinds of therapeutic and spiritual services. This chapter analyzes and contrasts two new taitas and their malocas in the city of Pasto, in southern Colombia.

Africa’s middle class and urban consumption are on the rise, presenting a major opportunity for industrialization. Urban development also creates demand for public infrastructure. In the absence of modern infrastructure services, the next best option would be to reach households with lower-cost, second-best solutions, such as standposts, improved latrines, or street lighting. However, significant challenges exist in increasing the coverage of second-best alternatives, particularly because their public good nature makes some of these technologies more difficult for service providers to operate on a commercial basis. Understanding the factors that lie behind this “missing middle” is important. On the demand side, the costs of the second-best alternatives may still be relatively high, given limited household budgets. On the supply side, their public good nature greatly complicates the implementation of second-best alternatives. Policy makers need to pay attention to infrastructure investments for the burgeoning middle class as a paramount endeavour.