Accessibility and capabilities: (non‐)take‐up of benefits in the welfare production of poor households

Abstract

Studies of accessibility mainly focus on state welfare benefits and services. Yet, civil society actors may also provide material benefits for various needs. Drawing on the capability approach, this article examines accessibility for both state and non‐state benefits from the perspective of people living in poverty. The (non‐)take‐up of particular benefits must be understood within the overall context of people’s welfare production, i.e., their practices of accessing, combining, and transforming resources from state, market, civil society, family, and social networks to achieve the kind of life they value. The article draws on a qualitative study examining the welfare production of 40 households living below or near the poverty line in Switzerland. It is based on three waves of semi‐structured interviews, complemented by financial diaries documenting household income and expenditures. Our analysis shows how configurations of individual factors such as self‐image, the endowment with social and cultural capital, and subjective cost–benefit calculations interact with institutional entitlements, conceptions of deservingness, and administrative procedures. The article identifies three ideal‐typical configurations: deliberate non‐take‐up, extensive use of different benefits, or sporadic use of mostly small non‐state benefits. Households without access to benefits are more likely to face material and social deprivation, whereas those who use both state and non‐state resources enhance their capabilities.