Perceptions of poverty and the perpetuation of the capability-judgment cycle in outer southeast Melbourne

Leanne M. Kelly

Community Development, 2016, vol. 47, issue 5, 584-601

Abstract: People living in poverty are subject to assumptions and stereotypes which, whether inaccurate, harmful, or misguided, can impact empowerment and capability building. This research explores perceptions relating specifically to people in poverty in outer southeast Melbourne suburbs. Perceptions of 218 non-poor respondents are compared with the perceptions of 52 poor respondents. Poor respondents describe themselves before discussing impacts of negative non-poor perceptions. Findings demonstrate that the non-poor tend to view the poor negatively and that these judgments have adverse impacts on those in poverty. Non-poor perceptions in this study are shown to influence the perpetuation of poverty by contributing to a cause and effect capability-judgment cycle. This cycle illustrates how non-poor views impact emotional and material wellbeing of the poor and influence policy, programs, and poverty discourse in ways which further reduce the capabilities of the poor to achieve valued ends.

Date: 2016
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/15575330.2016.1226913 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:comdev:v:47:y:2016:i:5:p:584-601

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RCOD20

DOI: 10.1080/15575330.2016.1226913

Access Statistics for this article

Community Development is currently edited by John Green, Rhonda Phillips and Anne Heinze Silvis

More articles in Community Development from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().