The Construction of the Myth of Survival

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3885397
AutoresMercedes González De La Rocha (Centro de Investigación y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, autor correspondente)
Ano2007
Volume38
Fascículo1
Páginas45-66
Data de publicação2007-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoDevelopment and Change (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0012-155X • E-ISSN: 1467-7660
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-7660.2007.00402.x
OpenAlexW2054957933
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas50
Referências citadas20

A myth has come into being that the poor household/family is able to survive in spite of a lack of resources and the presence of macroeconomic policies that foster unemployment and poverty. It has an accompanying fable that tells of how the poor manage to implement survival strategies that are based on their endless capacity to work, to consume less and to be part of mutual help networks. This myth has become a useful tool for policy makers as they design more aggressive neoliberal economic adjustment policies. This contribution examines anthropological and sociological insights regarding the life of the poor and the organization of their households, in which women's paid and unpaid work is an integral part. Through the lens of a researcher in the field of urban poverty and household organization, the article re-examines the fable of the good survivor. Evidence debunks the myth, showing that the optimistic message of this fable does not match with the realities of the impact of economic change on women's lives. But the myth is sustained, as this more negative story is not one that supra-national policy actors want to hear

Economic growth · Economics · Fable · Mythology · Poverty · Sociology · Unemployment · Work (physics) · Employment and Welfare Studies · History · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Social Policy and Reform Studies