Is poverty mainly about individual choices or systems?
Side one
Choices and effort
Habits, effort and decisions shape outcomes; empowerment means building agency.
Atomic Habits · Grit · Think and Grow RichSide two
Systems and structures
Caste, gender, geography and access to education decide much before choices begin.
Amartya Sen: Development as Freedom · Ambedkar: Equality and Constitutional Morality · Marx: Class and LabourCommon ground
Both want people to escape poverty.
How to reconcile them
Remove structural barriers and support agency; each makes the other work.
When each side is right
Stress systems in policy essays. Stress agency in essays on motivation.
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