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THE GEOGRAPHY OF SURVIVAL: HOUSEHOLD STRATEGIES IN URBAN SETTINGS
Author(s) -
MEERT HENK,
MISTIAEN PASCALE,
KESTELOOT CHRISTIAN
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1467-9663
pISSN - 0040-747X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9663.1997.tb01595.x
Subject(s) - reciprocity (cultural anthropology) , redistribution (election) , poverty , welfare state , welfare , population , cohesion (chemistry) , economics , market integration , development economics , economic geography , sociology , economic growth , labour economics , demographic economics , political science , market economy , social science , microeconomics , chemistry , demography , organic chemistry , politics , law
The rise of poverty in Western societies can be explained by three socio‐economic processes: the dualisation and polarisation of the labour market, the dismantling of the welfare state, and the increase of new types of households like single parents and singles. These processes are interrelated and they lead towards different mechanisms of social exclusion. This article stresses that not everyone excluded from the labour market, welfare provisions, or social networks has to be regarded as excluded from society. By developing survival strategies in different economic systems (market, reciprocity, associative redistribution) poor households try to escape from social marginalisation. The whole of their survival strategies is analysed in five different settings in and around Brussels. It is argued that these areas offer very different opportunities for social integration and community development, essentially related to the heterogeneity of the environment and the social cohesion of the population concerned.