Reconstructing Poverty-Related Shame Among Urban Seniors in China: an Exploration of Their Narrated Experiences and a Reflection on Anti-Poverty Interventions

Yan-Yan Chen, Liu Hong () and Robert Walker
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Yan-Yan Chen: Fudan University
Liu Hong: Fudan University
Robert Walker: University of Oxford

Applied Research in Quality of Life, 2022, vol. 17, issue 1, No 13, 229-249

Abstract: Abstract Poverty is an objective state, as well as a set of subjective experiences. This study explored how low-income seniors in urban China make meaning under the pressures of poverty-related shame. Based on two rounds of in-depth interviews with participants in Beijing, spanning 9 years, the researchers concluded that low-income seniors feel deprivation, experiences of being belittled and inferior and a sense of self-deprecation due to material scarcity. Under such pressures, the seniors actively reconstruct poverty-related experiences, demonstrating that older people living in poverty have a powerful meaning-making system, which serves as evidence of their resilience. However, reconstructing experiences of poverty should not be taken for granted, but be regarded as an appeal for dignity-oriented social policies. This rich meaning-making system could be a foundation upon which anti-poverty advocates adopt and advance various strengths-based interventions. These findings also point to implications for quality of life research with older people living in poverty and anti-poverty measures for this population in other developing contexts.

Keywords: Poverty; Ageing; Older people; Shame; Quality of life; Social policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1007/s11482-020-09895-2

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