In the history of capitalism, there are two distinct episodes in which the concept of poverty mobilized the politicians, religious men and Samaritan rich: the age of the Poor Laws which began in the 16th Century and ended in the 19th Century, and the last two decades. In the both episodes, the proposed salvation for the poor has entailed the capitulation to the dynamics of market mechanism and working. However, who the poor was/is should be determined previously. In this context, the salvation project should be initiated with the definition of the poverty. This measurement problem calls for the definition of the certain criteria. The determined criteria, on the other hand, reveal ideological inclinations embedded in the processes of measurement, assessment and selection. The basic qualitative criteria in both episodes are not working/ being unable to work/ being averse to work and exclusion from the market mechanism. However, our social class based study, applying quantitative poverty measures to the data of Turkey, points to the fact that the working women/men, rather than voluntarily or involuntarily unemployed, capture the highest share in the stock of poor. Hence, the problem of poverty generally pertains to the working classes. In essence, impoverishment is a means to become an ordinary member of working class.