Contemporary theoretical discussions on poverty

Human capabilities, well-being and needs

Abstract

In the specialized literature there is a broad consensus in defining poverty from a multidimensional perspective, being the ways in which the phenomenon is measured the center of the discussion. It is in this sense that the present article chronologically ordered the main theoretical aspects that nourish the contemporary conceptualization of poverty (the approach of functionings and capabilities and the theory of human needs), highlighting the taxonomies elaborated by its main theoretical references and arriving at conclusions that invite reflection on the socio-historical contexts that determined this intellectual production and its contribution to the elaboration of a multidimensional concept of poverty.