Most books on development are written in a detached and ‘objective' language of Western social science. This book stands at the opposite end of the spectrum, simply stating that to understand the poverty of the Third World, one must adopt the perspective of the people who actually experience it.
Through the usage of real life accounts ranging from the slum districts of Sao Paulo to the villages of West Africa, the author has developed a 'science of liberation' which is systematically and purposefully biased to the needs and interests of the poor and to turn scientific effort (which he defines as systematic fact-finding and logical discourse) into a tool for their liberation. Kruijer argues that social-scientific concepts often serve simply as a neutral smokescreen for the underlying realities of power and exploitation. Underdevelopment, he challenges, looks very different from the viewpoint of the poor people of the Third World, and it is their perspective that throws a much clearer light on the true character of global, economic and political relationships and the failures of so many past endeavors attempting to combat poverty and starvation.
The book aims to unravel, at every level, the reality that oppresses the poor-materially and spiritually, and to point to organizational, institutional and conscious-raising measures that have been, or could be taken, to liberate them.
