Abstract
The purpose of this essay is aimed at rethinking the discourse of "Underclass" in order to bring out the way that discourse effects redistribution and show some strategies for justification of redistribution for the poor. Poverty itself is not only caused from individuals but from society in general even in "Post-industrial" society. What is different, however, is that there is a particular poverty discourse, which has a very functional effect to make redistribution for the poor unjust : this is known as "Underclass" discourse. Therefore several pieces of Underclass discourse are reinterpreted with some analytical devices in order to bring out the their functional effect. The result of the reinterpretation is as follows : Underclass discourse itself constructs those who are categorized as "Underclass" to be abnormal, which makes redistribution for them unjust. In order to overcome this negatively constructed Underclass discourse, we will apply Nancy Fraser's "Redistribution and Recognition" approach to the politics of poverty. Her approach is very useful for claiming proper "redistribution" today and is appropriate for the politics of poverty. This is because her approach has dual perspectives - economic "redistribution" and symbolic "recognition"- and contains status model. As a result, the analysis proposed in this paper may make a contribution to understanding poverty and anti-poverty strategies.
