My Crying Is Not a Cry by Itself

Building Sustainable Social Ties through a Poor People's Organization

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5741510
AutoresJoan Maya Mazelis (0000-0001-8527-0680, Rutgers Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, autor de correspondencia)
Año2020
Volumen689
Número1
Páginas110-128
Fecha de publicación2020-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0002-7162 • E-ISSN: 1552-3349
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0002716220918165
OpenAlexW3026317146
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas36

Research has highlighted that social ties help poor people to survive, but has also shown that nonkin ties often only last a short time. In this article, I argue that organizations that serve the needs of poor people can help to create more sustainable supportive ties among them. Drawing on participant observation and ethnographic interviews with twenty-five members of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU) in Philadelphia-an organization of, by, and for poor people-I found that supportive ties among members of KWRU can last years or even decades. I show how this organization enabled poor people to create and maintain supportive ties. KWRU provided people living in desperate poverty space for frequent interaction, connection, and cooperation. The organization supported a sense of kinship among members, and group leaders often helped to mend rifts between members. While KWRU is distinctive, other organizations that serve the needs of poor people could use this model to be more responsive to the needs of those in poverty

Ethnography · Interpersonal ties · Kinship · Participant observation · Political science · Poor people · Poverty · Public relations · Social organization · Social science · Social Welfare · Sociology · Space (punctuation) · Strong ties · Welfare · Homelessness and Social Issues · Law · Social Capital and Networks · Social Work Education and Practice