Keeping the poor poor: how Pakistan’s elite capitalize on inequity

Abstract

The inequity literature from Pakistan often neglects the systems and structures responsible for sustaining poverty. Our research explores the role of Pakistan’s elite in maintaining and facilitating social inclusion and exclusion. A 10-month village ethnography conducted in the Punjab province shows how poverty is rooted in an intangible power structure legitimized at all levels of society. At the systemic level, the caste system and its associated inherited wealth underpin the authority of the elite. This extends to dictating the establishment and distribution of social protection resources for the poor. Community-level dynamics empower the village elite to enforce informal and unspoken contracts in which the poor depend on the rich for their livelihood. In exchange for cheap labour, the elite provides them with payment-in-kind in the form of unstable housing and uncertain financial support in times of need. The poor are given enough to stay alive but not thrive. Lastly, at the individual level, the destitute themselves sustain the inequity by believing and submitting to the elite’s narrative of their inferiority. Using labour as currency, the poor’s transactions, self-dehumanization, and intergenerational faithfulness to the high caste reinforce the elite’s historically accorded power. We argue that by capitalizing on their opportunity at all levels of society, Pakistan’s elite sustain the poor’s subordination and ensure their status is not threatened by upward mobility.