The Construction of the Myth of Survival
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3885397 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mercedes González De La Rocha (Centro de Investigación y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 45-66 |
| Publication date | 2007-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Development and Change (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0012-155X • E-ISSN: 1467-7660 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-7660.2007.00402.x |
| OpenAlex | W2054957933 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 50 |
| References cited | 20 |
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
Urban livelihoods and institutions
The gendered experiences of local volunteers in conflicts and emergencies
Habitar migrante en el Gran Santiago
Modelación espacial de la complejidad de la corresidencia en Bogotá
Quiénes necesitan vivienda en América Latina? El allegamiento residencial en las estimaciones de déficit habitacional
Developmentalism
Moving beyond Co-optation
The particular forms of domestic and residential organization in the informal habitat
Empty pantries
Hane Geçim Stratejilerinin Yerlilik ve Göçmenlik ekseninde incelenmesi
Économies domestiques à l’ère de la polycrise
Two Sides of the Coin
The Contemporary Significance of Primitive Accumulation ∗
Exploring the “feminisation of poverty” in relation to women’s work and home-based enterprise in slums of the Global South
Catch and kill’
Fixing women or fixing the world? ‘Smart economics’, efficiency approaches, and gender equality in development
Introduction
The crisis of social reproduction in rural Mexico
Globalising myths of survival
Gender, innovation and ambiguity
Vulnerability” in Aids-affected states
When Assets are Vulnerabilities
The Global Politics of Sexual and Reproductive Health
Spaces of Contention
Gendered Poverty Across Space and Time
The ‘Feminisation of Poverty’ and the ‘Feminisation’ of Anti-Poverty Programmes
Além do 'Empoderamento Light
“Slumification” of Consolidated Informal Settlements
Poverty alleviation, community participation, and the issue of scale in ethnic tourism in China
Of choice, chance and contingency
Informal (In)security in Urban Afghanistan
Introduction
Revisiting the ‘Gender Agenda’
From ‘gender equality and ‘women’s empowerment’ to global justice
Conceptualizing the Survival Sector in Madagascar
Relationships Stretched Thin
Do Networks Help People To Manage Poverty? Perspectives from the Field
The Migration-Development Nexus
NGOs and Feminisms in Development
Eyes that don't see, heart that doesn't feel
Livelihoods Limitations
Resilient and Resourceful
The Fight Against Poverty and the Gendered Remaking of Community in Mexico
We Are Daughters of the Sea
Should Feminists Be Individualists? A Puzzle from Gender and Development Practice
Food, Water, and Scarcity
Multiple shocks and slum household economies in South India
Life here is just scraping by
The feminist dimensions of food sovereignty
Measures of Social Isolation
Capability and Well-Being
Trabajo femenino y vida familiar en México
Women-Headed Households
Capability and Well‐Being
All our kin
Networks and Marginality
The Mexican Urban Household
Crisis, restructuring and urban poverty in Mexico
Crisis, restructuring and urban poverty in Mexico
Household Economic Strategies
Dangerous Equations? How Female-headed Households Became the Poorest of the Poor
The Crossroads of Class and Gender
Los recursos de la pobreza
The Urban Family and Poverty in Latin America
Women and Survival in Mexican Cities
From the Resources of Poverty to the Poverty of Resources
The Politics of Reproduction
Economic Crisis, Domestic Reorganisation and Women's Work in Guadalajara, Mexico
New Approaches to Economic Life
The Hyper-Shantytown
| Unique citing works | 50 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,63 |
| Citation span | 2007 - 2025 (19) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 45 |