The Construction of the Myth of Survival

Abstract

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.

Exploring the “feminisation of poverty” in relation to women’s work and home-based enterprise in slums of the Global South

“…On top of this, if adult women do embark on income-generating activities, this can have serious intergenerational implications for human capital formation. This is especially so among younger women, for whom the transfer of substantial responsibility for reproductive tasks can jeopardise their education, training and job experience (CPRC, 2010;González de la Rocha, 2007).…”

“…One of the overriding cautions raised in feminist circles to date concerns the dangers attached to instrumentalising women to alleviate poverty, despite ostensible gestures towards 'empowering' them in the process (see Chant and Sweetman, 2012;Mayoux,2006;Molyneux, , 2006; (Bradshaw and Linneker, 2001;González de la Rocha, 2007;Kabeer, 2005;Molyneux, , 2007). Such tendencies arguably exacerbate a longer-observed trend, particularly noted in the post-1980 era of neoliberal restructuring, for, women to end-up working for development, rather than development working for women (Blumberg,1995;Elson, 1991;Moser, 1993).…”

Shame, Humiliation and Social Isolation: Missing Dimensions of Poverty and Suffering Analysis

“…poor people may not be able to afford food to share at communal gatherings). This means that the chronic poor may remain so because of their inability to reciprocate in terms of material resources (Gonzalez, 2007).…”

‘Life here is just scraping by’: livelihood strategies and social networks among peasant households in Honduras

“…According to Edelman (1999, 5-21) and Wood (2003), an overemphasis on social agency has tended to exaggerate the degree of volition and choice exercised by the poor, while Ba¨hre (2007) and Cleaver (2005) remark that the poor's engagement in volatile informal sector activities has been essentialised as a creative marginality, with limited attention paid to the socio-economic constraints that these people confront in their daily struggles to make a living. An exclusive focus on the ability of the poor to construct their livelihoods and to pursue acts of resistance may obscure the structural conditions and political power relations giving rise to the depth and pain of their deprivation (Gonza´lez de la Rocha 2007, Kay 2006.…”