Bargains, handouts, and hand-me-downs: poor households’ use of (re)distribution systems

Abstract

Consumption practices represent a central mode of social integration. Yet, due to the lack of material resources poor households cannot meet the expectations of dominant consumer culture, thus facing limited choices and feelings of shame. Based on a qualitative long-term study of the welfare production of 40 poor Swiss households, this article sheds light on consumption patterns and experiences in different distribution systems, namely the primary market, the charity system, and redistribution systems for used goods. It shows that feelings of shame and processes of exclusion differ between distribution systems according to institutional features conducive to the (in)visibility of poverty.