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Giving everyone a fish: COVID-19 and the new politics of distribution

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  • Webb, Christopher

Abstract

In response to widescale job losses produced by the COVID.19 pandemic, states have drastically expanded social protections, primarily through cash transfer programs. Drawing from James Ferguson's notion of distributional politics, this reflection analyzes the meaning of this rapid global expansion of the welfare state and the political opportunities it provides. Based on two seemingly disparate cases, South Africa and Canada, I suggest that these expansions provide valuable opportunities for rethinking existing approaches to livelihoods, labour and social protection. These interventions also provide political possibilities through which a more radically redistributive politics can be articulated. In both contexts, state responses have provoked new challenges, dialogues, and experiments in distribution at multiple scales, from the neighbourhood to the nation state. This reflection calls for deeper inquiry into the multiple meanings of cash transfers and the political openings they provide. Finally, it provides guiding questions for future anthropological inquiry into livelihoods and social protection.

Suggested Citation

  • Webb, Christopher, 2021. "Giving everyone a fish: COVID-19 and the new politics of distribution," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 110525, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:110525
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/110525/
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ugo Gentilini & Mohamed Almenfi & Ian Orton & Pamela Dale, 2020. "Social Protection and Jobs Responses to COVID-19," World Bank Publications - Reports 33635, The World Bank Group.
    2. Torkelson, Erin, 2020. "Collateral damages: Cash transfer and debt transfer in South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Canada; cash transfers; Covid-19; distribution; labour; livelihoods; politics; social protection; South Africa; coronavirus;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General

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