Coping with poverty and unwanted distinction: contours of subjective awareness of an objective challenge

Abstract

The author talks intensively about the subjective awareness, the emotional integration of poverty as well as the variety of interpretation and the specific communication in poverty milieus. Her analysis is based on a detailed empiric qualitative study of poverty. The interplay of the described factors is not seen by politics. The internal site on poverty shoes the relativity of poverty. The one, who economically or physically is poor, must not feel pure at the same time. And the one, who feels poor, must not be physically poor. The author illustrates various aspects in reference to special groups of poor people: poverty milieu, relationship to the context, characterizing of the living, group interpretation and the problem of (self-) distinction. Constructive work with the people has to take care of this, that means: take care of their subjective parts of the problem.

Keywords Objective and subjective poverty; distinction; empiric qualitative study; patterns of communication; interpretation; community.