Using Dialogic Research to Overcome Poverty: from principles to action

Abstract

In the EU commitment to alleviating the high rates of poverty in Europe there is widespread agreement among policy‐makers that it is crucial to include the voices of those who are living in poverty in order to fight exclusion most effectively. Similarly, those studying ways to address poverty and inequality are increasingly required to seek dialogue with those who are the focus of their research. These policy‐makers and researchers need procedures that will allow them to move from the principle of including the voices of the most vulnerable social groups to specific ways of undertaking such a dialogue. Research using the critical communicative methodology (CCM) sheds some light on this. By examining aspects of the Integrated Project INCLUD‐ED, the largest research on school education in the Framework Programme, this article argues that three elements of the CCM — egalitarian dialogue, successful actions’ approach and informing effective policies — facilitate the engagement between researchers, end‐users, and all the other involved stakeholders and therefore the move from principles to action in the process of overcoming poverty in Europe. As this article and the special issue demonstrate, through those elements, INCLUD‐ED has already provided scientific knowledge that is instrumental to shorten the distance between the present situation and the horizon of a Europe which is free from poverty.