Educational poverty and care for others: a relation between human development and social love

Drawing from the results of the World Love Index, the chapter proposes a focus on the relation between educational poverty and social love. The authors present a review of theories and approaches to educational poverty, arguing that the dimension of the priority of benefit to others can be effectively employed as an analytical perspective on material and cultural deprivation. An empirical case from southern Italy is presented. In an area affected by marginalization and social exclusion, actions founded on social love are vehicles of unconditionality and mutual trust, which produce positive outcomes that improve social conditions at both an individual and community level.