Poverty as Misrecognition: What Role for Anti-Discrimination Law in Europe?

Abstract

It is widely agreed on that victims of discrimination on traditional status grounds such as gender, race and religion are overrepresented among the poor and undereducated. People living in poverty also face discrimination because of their socioeconomic situation. Many national, European and international anti-discrimination provisions prohibit discrimination based on a person’s socioeconomic situation. It is striking, however, that this is barely applied in practice. There is little case law related to this at national, international and European levels. This situation is surprising, especially in the context of the financial retrenchment ongoing since 2008, and regarding the numerous accounts of direct and indirect discrimination affecting people who are unemployed, undereducated, poor or homeless. On the basis of domestic – Belgian, French and British – and European material, this paper argues that the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of social condition is an empowering legal tool which adds value to Human Rights law, EU law and Discrimination law in the protection of socioeconomically disadvantaged people – especially regarding issues of misrecognition – for four main reasons: the exclusive applicability of this ground in some cases, its important cross-cutting role in cases of multiple discrimination, the direct scrutiny of the socioeconomic position of the applicants which this ground implies, and its determining role in combating stereotypes, prejudice and stigma against poor and undereducated people.