Economia do pauperismo: uma análise acerca da territorialização da pobreza no estado de Alagoas

Abstract

Throughout human history, the concept of poverty has gained different definitions, primarily understood within the contexts of unidimensional and multidimensional approaches. The former, characterized by economic or monetary aspects, and the latter, multipolar in nature, analyzing this phenomenon through economic, social, political, historical, and cultural dimensions. Through this multidimensional lens, the geographical category of "territory" gains emphasis in discussions relevant to the issue of poverty by highlighting its heterogeneous nature. Therefore, in this monograph, the objective is to understand the process of poverty territorialization in Alagoas, as well as to comprehend the elements of its maintenance, dissemination, and persistence. The study unfolds under the perspective of the hypothetico-deductive method (HDM), as hypotheses are established, confirmed, or refuted through the obtained results. In this sense, the historical analysis of the construction of the Alagoas territory refers to the formation of a territory strongly linked to socio-political-economic dynamics conditioning the mechanisms that perpetuate poverty. Furthermore, through a quali-quantitative approach, the analysis of the main socioeconomic indicators from the demographic censuses of the years 2000 and 2010 (Municipal Human Development Index; Per capita income, Gross Domestic Product per capita; Gini Index; Illiteracy rate of the population aged 25 and over; Percentage of people in households with inadequate water supply and sanitation, among others) reveal the existing inequalities among the 102 municipalities that comprise the state. The results demonstrate that municipalities located in the Sertão mesoregion present the worst outcomes and consequently a higher incidence of poverty in Alagoas, followed by those located in the Agreste, while in Leste of Alagoas, municipalities with the best indicators are found.