Deservingness

Andreas Streinzer and Jelena Tošić

Chapter 7 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Economic Anthropology, 2025, pp 208-212 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The concept of un/deservingness explores the normalization or contestation of moral legitimacy regarding unequal distribution and access to resources. It serves as a conceptual prism through which to examine the moralization of inequality, probing the question of who merits what and why. Un/deservingness manifests in vernacular statements, bureaucratic procedures evaluating claims to unemployment or other benefits, political debates, and legal and eligibility protocols. This entry traces un/deservingness in ethnographies, presenting an analytical approach for economic anthropologists to systematically study its classed, racialized, gendered, ableist, and productivist assumptions. Un/deservingness is positioned as a focal point in economic anthropology, intersecting with themes such as welfare, wealth, citizenship, and family policy. The proposed reconstructive, genealogical, and critical approach takes un/deservingness seriously as a crucial modality of creating, maintaining or contesting inequality in contemporary capitalisms, encouraging a deeper analysis of how inequality is constructed and sustained beyond its logical confines.

Keywords: Deservingness; Inequality; Moral legitimacy; Welfare; Citizenship (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035312566
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