ABSTRACT
As these quotations from the poor in Guatemala illustrate, poverty means different things to different people. This chapter explores the dynamics of poverty and related concepts, considering the multidimensionality of poverty, both in theory and in practice. Specifically, the chapter argues for the need to examine poverty from a perspective that moves beyond income and incorporates more subjective elements of deprivation reflected in the use of the terms 'vulnerability' and 'social exclusion'. This is especially pertinent in the case of Middle American countries that have suffered widespread poverty and exclusion both historically and today, and often to a greater extent than elsewhere in Latin America. Poverty in the region
has also been particularly adversely affected by the recession of the 1980s associated with structural adjustment programmes (SAPs). These involve the reorientation of economies along free-market lines under the direction of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Although the exact relationship between SAPs and poverty is contentious, adjustment involves severe cutbacks in social spending that have deleterious effects on the well-being of populations.
