Elite Perceptions of the Poor: Reflections for a Comparative Research Project.

This article presents the theoretical foundations for an ongoing research project on elites and their perceptions of poverty and poor people within their own societies. The very broad connotations of the concepts "perceptions" and "poverty" allow them to be adapted to the wide array of circumstances that prevail in the very diverse societies that are to be studied in this comparative project. James Manor has applied the concept of social consciousness in a study of elites and their incapacities in coping with a mass poisoning of slum dwellers by illicit liquor in India. The most crucial set of data is drawn from open-ended interviews structured around predetermined topics with five to ten persons in each of 11 elite groups in every country under study. The interviews have the character of conversations, and should allow the reconstruction of some of the perceptions and personal motivations behind the positions displayed in public. Another set of data is drawn from observations of interaction and noninteraction between poor people and non-poor people, especially members of the elites, in business districts, shopping areas and thoroughfares. Such data yield an overall impression of the diverse ways in which visible poverty is dealt with.