Pauvreté et assistance aux pauvres dans l’œuvre de Roscher

The assistance freely granted to the poor is essential to the definition of poverty, according to Roscher. Drawing on economic history, he observes a massification of poverty and a systematization of the welfare services. The efficiency obtained does not compensate for the moral cost of this evolution. Assistance is no longer an occasion to practice a virtue, so links between the poor and the rich weaken. Thus, Roscher recalls that the meaning of poverty and care extends beyond its positivist reduction as a social issue. The link of dependence by the poor on aid from the rich is a non-political link, but necessary for the constitution of a political community.