In search of a decent living. Poor households' strategies of welfare production between agency and survival
Vorschaubild nicht verfügbar
Autor:innen
Autor:in (Körperschaft)
Publikationsdatum
10.09.2024
Typ der Arbeit
Studiengang
Typ
06 - Präsentation
Herausgeber:innen
Herausgeber:in (Körperschaft)
Betreuer:in
Übergeordnetes Werk
Themenheft
DOI der Originalpublikation
Reihe / Serie
Reihennummer
Jahrgang / Band
Ausgabe / Nummer
Seiten / Dauer
Patentnummer
Verlag / Herausgebende Institution
Verlagsort / Veranstaltungsort
Muttenz
Auflage
Version
Programmiersprache
Abtretungsempfänger:in
Praxispartner:in/Auftraggeber:in
Zusammenfassung
Multidimensional poverty concepts combine the lack of material means to meet socially defined minimum needs with the equally important lack of participation and self-determination. Insufficient financial means restrict choices regarding consumer goods and services and limit weighty life choices regarding education, jobs, family. Poverty research therefore tends to describe coping with financial hardship as basically reactive and guided by sheer necessity. In this view, the vulnerability of the poor to external forces is overwhelming. Hence, their choices are inevitably detrimental in that any decision implies negative effects. The question therefore is how we can distinguish genuine agency in non-trivial matters from merely reactive survival.
Agency as the freedom of leading a life according to one’s own reflected values is at the heart of the capability approach (CA). The CA foregrounds real opportunities (capabilities) as opposed to achieved states (functionings) while factoring in the preconditions for agency, namely the personal set of conversion factors that are needed to turn resources into actual welfare. However, critics argue that capabilities cannot be distinguished clearly from functionings and that providing “(genuine) opportunities for (secure) functionings” is the appropriate political target of poverty alleviation (Wolff/de-Shalit 2007; 2013). Being able to sustain functioning over time is important because heightened vulnerability to risk is a salient characteristic of being poor. Moreover, Wolff and de-Shalit posit that “being able to take control over the way in which the function is achieved” (2013, 164) is a crucial dimension of choice. To assess genuine agency, we therefore need to analyze secure functionings, personal sets of conversion factors, and the value-based preferences and goals of poor people – not least whether they can achieve things their own way.
Based on an ongoing long-term qualitative study of the welfare production strategies of 40 poor households in Switzerland, we discuss degrees of agency over time from a capabilities perspective. By definition, these households are deprived of some basic capabilities in that they live below the poverty line. In this study we use the strict poverty line of eligibility for social assistance or supplemental benefits. In addition, indicators of material deprivation serve as thresholds to assess secure functionings. To what extent are the study participants still able to partially realize a life according to their own values? Preliminary results reveal a range of agency from mere adaption through cutting consumption to partial realization of personal life goals or overcoming poverty through one’s own efforts.
Schlagwörter
Poverty, Agency, Capabilities
Fachgebiet (DDC)
360 - Soziale Probleme, Sozialdienste, Versicherungen
Veranstaltung
Congress of the Swiss Sociological Association (SSA) 2024
Startdatum der Ausstellung
Enddatum der Ausstellung
Startdatum der Konferenz
09.09.2024
Enddatum der Konferenz
11.09.2024
Datum der letzten Prüfung
ISBN
ISSN
Sprache
Englisch
Während FHNW Zugehörigkeit erstellt
Ja
Publikationsstatus
Begutachtung
Peer-Review des Abstracts
Open Access-Status
Lizenz
Zitation
NADAI, Eva und Anna GONON, 2024. In search of a decent living. Poor households‘ strategies of welfare production between agency and survival. Congress of the Swiss Sociological Association (SSA) 2024. Muttenz. 10 September 2024. Verfügbar unter: https://irf.fhnw.ch/handle/11654/47314