poverty and shame a study in eight countries

Poverty and ShameA study in eight countries

Elaine ChaseSohail Choudhry

Frederick Golooba-MutebiErika GubriumIvar Lødemel

JO Yong-Mie (Nicola)Leemamol Mathew

Sony PellisseryRobert Walker

YAN Ming

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Malcolm_X_Blvd124.JPG

Research and policy context:Towards a global conversation

• A globalised world• Global governance• Need to develop a global

language– Of concepts– Not necessarily of words

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Bridging languages• Conceptual Equivalence– whether word means

the same thing• Functional Equivalence– whether the thing

means the same, socially – causes and consequences; culturally – role and importance

• Metric Equivalence– whether differences in degree are similarly registered

• Political Equivalence– whether it is accorded similar priority

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Towards a global language of poverty?

1. Absolute or relative?2. Need or rights?3. Poverty felt as shame?

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Poverty rates in India, China and UK, 1990-2003

1990 20030

102030405060708090

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Poverty rate: absolute/relative

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Urban China: $2/day Urban China: 50% medianUK: $2/day UK: 50% median

Source: China: Appleton, Song and Xia (2006) UK: DWP (2007)

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Human rights• Distinction is made between rights and

needs. • Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) • Is poverty

– a per se violation of human rights or – a cause of human rights violations

• No right to be free from poverty

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• Individual needs impose no obligations on governments • Rights do.

‘A right is something to which one is entitled solely by virtue of being a person. It is that which enables an

individual to live with dignity’ (UNDP, 2003, p.1).



– a per se violation of human rights or – a cause of human rights violations


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UN Millennium Declaration

Affirmation of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Universal Declaration on

Human Rights



– a per se violation of human rights or – a cause of human rights violations?


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– a per se violation of human rights or – a cause of human rights violations?


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International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights

Recognises a right to an adequate standard of living

Shame &Amartya Sen

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CapabilitiesCapabilities: the potential that people have to lead fulfilled and engaging lives

Functionings: the facilities and resources required to enable people to achieve their capabilities

Functionings

Shame &Amartya Sen

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CapabilitiesCapabilities: the potential that people have to lead fulfilled and engaging lives

Functionings: the facilities and resources required to enable people to achieve their capabilities

Functionings

‘irreducible absolutist core in the idea of

poverty’ is

‘the ability to go about without shame’

Shame

Universality of shame?‘voices of the poor’

Is the shame attached to poverty universal and invariant?

• Children in Bangladesh, India and Moldova feel ‘marked’ by shabby clothing

• An unemployed father in Guinea-Bissau feels ashamed at being unable adequately to feed his children

• People in Armenia feel a lack of self-worth and loss of status at being unable to maintain basic hygiene

• Poverty in Madagascar is equated with the inability to adhere to local customs and norms

• In Britain, the word poverty itself is considered to be stigmatising and is shunned

• In Europe and North America poverty is experienced as personal failure in achievement-orientated societies

16The Voices of the Poor study (Narayan et al., 2000a, b)

Universality of shame?Evidence from scholarship

• Shame is more prominent in collectivistic cultural societies than in individualistic ones (violation of social values)

(pro: Benedict (1946), against Eid & Diener, 2001)• Shame is a salient emotion in Confucian societies.

Avoiding shame/losing face is of overriding concern (Ho et al., 2004)

• Linguistic representation of shame, guilt, and embarrassment is far richer in Chinese than in English

(Wang & Fischer, 1994)

• Shame is experienced similarly across cultures as a generalised negative view of self involving feelings of inferiority, powerlessness and lack of dignity

(Fontaine, 2006)

Why shame is important:conceptual equivalence?

• It may be how poverty is actually experienced/felt• It is unpleasant, the opposite of well-being; ill-

being: – Painful self-scrutiny leading to

• a sense of shrinking, of "being small”• feelings of worthlessness and powerlessness.

– Shame often leads to a desire to escape or to hide—to sink into the floor and disappear

– Shame comes - in ‘losing face, failure and rejection by others’ - from the rejection of self, which may reach into the core of one’s being

Why shame is important:metric equivalence?

• If shame is universally associated with poverty and poverty invariably experienced as shame.....then...

• It may provide an equivalent concept and metric for global discourse on poverty at differing levels of economic development.

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Why is shame important:functional equivalence?

• Because shame may be experienced in conditions over which we have no control, personal responsibility is not necessarily involved – there may be no escape

• ‘Shame is potentially more pervasive and incapacitating than guilt. It often persists like a psychic scar that stubbornly refuses to heal’ (Ho et al., 2004)

• Impacts on agency, health, welfare, disability and rehabilitation

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The poverty/shame nexus?

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Low social capital

Poverty Low self worth

Shame(ashamed)

Lack of agency

Social exclusionShaming

Society

Moldova Poor people ‘are like garbage that everyone wants to get rid of.’Argentina and BulgariaPoor women are greater risk of sexual and physical abuse India Poor children are stigmatized by their teachersKyrgyz RepublicA young girl is called a ‘beggar’ for wearing clothing from humanitarian aid. Britain and USPeople view those who are poor as feckless or dishonest.

Voices of the Poor (Narayan et al., 2000a, b)

The poverty/shame nexus?

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Low social capital

Poverty Low self worth

Shame(ashamed)

Lack of agency

Social exclusionShaming

Society

Shaming

POLICY

Kenya Women and youths are ‘treated worse than dogs’ at health clinicsBangladesh Dishonest officials discriminate against people in poverty who could not afford to offer bribes UkraineHumiliation experienced at the unemployment office is ‘designed to chase the unemployed away’ Russia‘Even the most needy are humiliated by having to take poor quality goods provided by the welfare office’.EuropeSome social assistance and activation policies are stigmatising and reduce take-up

Voices of the Poor (Narayan et al., 2000a, b)

Research goal and objectives1. To explore the role of policy in influencing any possible

relationship between poverty and shame in diverse cultural settings 1. China, Germany, India, Norway, Pakistan, South Korea, United

Kingdom, UgandaIn order to achieve this, it is necessary: 2. To explore cultural conceptions/construction of shame 3. To explore if shame is associated with poverty 4. To explore how the general population conceptualise

poverty and if they consciously or otherwise engage in the shaming of the poor

5. To examine if, and if so how, poor people experience shame

6. To examine how structure/delivery of policy might create or ameliorate poverty-induced shame

Research design

Cultural conceptions of poverty

1

Engaging with the poor

2

Perspectives of general public

3

Policy analysis

4Today

Conclusions• If poverty-shame nexus is strong and universal:

1. It suggests a shared poverty experience across the global South and North

• Poverty-associated shame as a universal metric offers cultural, conceptual, functional, political equivalence

• A global language for policy discourse2. It explains how poverty inhibits economic growth3. If shame is antonym of dignity, connects the social right

to inclusion with the human right to dignity. 4. Suggests that anti-poverty programmes that

create/reinforce shame could prove counterproductive5. Points to best-practice principles for policy design in the

global South and North.

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New hypothesis:

• Poverty is/has not always been associated with

shame

• Traditional: Where poverty seen as fate, poor

cannot be blamed for their poverty

• Modernisation: Where economic success is

expected, those who are unsuccessful risk being

held responsible for there own poverty.

• A common strategy CCTs is shame people into

changing their ways.

• Shame-poverty nexus is likely to strengthen

with increasing marketisation and globalisation.

Research design

Cultural conceptions of poverty

1

Engaging with the poor

2

Perspectives of general public

3

Policy analysis

4Conceptual equivalenceFunctional equivalence

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Similar to Shame Lemma Score Freq

embarrassment 0.336 16240 guilt 0.336 25293 sadness 0.307 14396 sorrow 0.301 11806 disappointment 0.29 30852 despair 0.289 16539 grief 0.289 21407 humiliation 0.279 10867 frustration 0.269 32692 regret 0.263 15773 misery 0.261 18728 anger 0.252 55319 resentment 0.244 12347 disgust 0.24 9145 confusion 0.239 41720 anxiety 0.238 44385 insecurity 0.232 9725 bitterness 0.231 7307 loneliness 0.23 7018 pity 0.23 16434 anguish 0.229 7105 hurt 0.221 13412 pride 0.208 45880 outrage 0.206 19124 distress 0.206 21587 suffering 0.206 46471 hatred 0.205 25897 rage 0.203 19560 injustice 0.203 20003 discomfort 0.203 12334 uncertainty 0.202 37479 hardship 0.201 14328 betrayal 0.199 10063 desperation 0.198 9574 fear 0.197 173171 alienation 0.196 8405

Similar to poverty

Lemma Score Freq

unemployment 0.383 44017 inequality 0.348 20800 corruption 0.348 47586 violence 0.347 162815 suffering 0.334 46471 racism 0.328 35039 abuse 0.322 111286 misery 0.32 18728 crisis 0.316 153977 conflict 0.305 146848 crime 0.3 210472 illness 0.294 74136 uncertainty 0.292 37479 anxiety 0.291 44385 oppression 0.291 17619 injustice 0.289 20003 depression 0.286 58318 hunger 0.277 21674 terrorism 0.277 97518 fear 0.276 173171 confusion 0.276 41720 difficulty 0.275 127279 hardship 0.272 14328 chaos 0.27 31454 discrimination 0.269 42996 disaster 0.262 74739 pain 0.261 147845 tension 0.259 67614 stress 0.259 86952 destruction 0.258 73518 lack 0.255 193874 ignorance 0.255 23289 deprivation 0.254 10650 tragedy 0.25 51328 insecurity 0.249 9725 terror 0.249 66213

Poverty and shame in EnglishConceptual equivalence

Shame in Chinese:Conceptual equivalence

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Shame is normally translated into a two-character compound chiru 恥辱Chi 恥 is made up of a pictographic component:

er: 耳 (ear, hearing)and an ideographic component:xin 心 (heart), meaning ashamed or humiliation

Ru 辱 1. defile or stain 2. shame 3. wronged or injustice.


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Poverty in Chinese

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Poverty usually translated as pin qiong 贫穷 or pin kun 贫困 pin 贫 contains two components:

bei 贝 from seashell and represents assetsfen 分 division So pin 贫 means a shortage of assets resulting from division

Qiong 穷 means “utmost”. Among the nearly 300 words containing qiong 穷 , most relevant are:

1. equivalent to pin 贫 ; 2. extremely poor or without any assets 3. widower, widow, orphan, and lone elderly 4. desolate, wicked, etc.

Kun 困 often combined with pin to refer to poverty. Kun originally meant an abandoned house, and evolved

to relate to exhaustion, haggard, helpless, limited.

Poverty in Chinese

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Poverty in Chinese

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Functional equivalence - Pakistan:Purposive sample of Poets and Prose (short

story writers) of Urdu

POETS PROSE WRITERS

Meer Taqi Meer (1723-1810)

Nazeer Akbarabadi (1740-1830)

Mirza Ghalib (1796-1869)

Dr Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938)

Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984)

Asmat Chugtai (1911-1991)

Saadat Hasan Manto (1912-1955)

Karishan Chandar (1914-1977)

Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi (1916-2006)

Ashfaq Ahmed (1925-2004)

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Urdu specimens: Nazeer Akbarabadi (1740-1830)

Shamelessness of Beggary Pain of Poverty

A clairvoyant beggar was once asked:Of what stuff are the moon and starsThe beggar smiled and shook his head:God bless you, sir, the answer is only bread.For, the poor know no planets, no starsThe thought of food our vision marsWhen the belly is empty, nothing feels goodNo taste for pleasure, only a craving for some food.The hungry cannot commune with God nor live the pious way.Bread alone inspires him to worship and to pray.It’s for food that some go strangely dressed.Some won’t bathe and let their hair grow unchecked.Another wears a kerchief tied around his head:All clever stratagems, all tricks are only for bread

Only the poor know the pain of poverty!The poor know no politeness or formalityThey fall upon food with uninhibited alacrityRisking their lives for a piece of loafAnd fighting like dogs over every bone.They become so mean and selfish in adversity.

Only the poor know the pain of poverty!Distinguished scholars, of themselves so sure,Lose their confidence on becoming poor.Confused with hunger, they often seeDay as night and A as B.

However good a man, but if he is poor,He often is insulted and called a fool, a boor.Clothes torn, hair unkempt, un-oiled,Mouth parched, grimy teeth, body badly soiled.Ugly and grim are the faces of poverty.Only the poor know the pain of poverty!

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Socio-Psychological Issues

Poverty and Shame Themes

Distress of Poverty and Shame

Shame, dignity and Self Respect

There are various themes that have emerged from the review of Urdu literature. For the ease of analysis and discussion, they have been categorised under five major groups, as shown on the left.

Socio-political thoughts

Diversity of Opinions

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Painful exposure of shame / Inadequacy

Shame is painful in hiding but more so in exposure.

Poverty shame affects judgement, behaviour, feelings

Approach or withdrawal response

An effort to redress before retreat or withdrawal.

Poverty shame affects participation

Material well being,Inferiority feelings,Apprehensions.

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Painful exposure of shame / Inadequacy

Shame is painful in hiding but more so in exposure.

Poverty shame affects judgement, behaviour, feelings

Approach or withdrawal response

An effort to redress before retreat or withdrawal.

Poverty shame affects participation

Material well being,Inferiority feelings,Apprehensions.

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No Hope

• Fatalistic approach• Death seen as the only escape from the trap• Poverty of ambition

Harshness of Poverty

• Structural Issues• Beyond control

Resentment & anger

• Anti social behaviour• Smoking, drugs• Reaction against the rich

Inequality of the Poor

• Socio-economic • Cultural aspects

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• Poetry vs. Prose• Absolute poverty

Poverty shame affects dignity / self respect

• Conflicting thoughts

• Temporary spells of poverty.

Material well being is respected

Iqbal’s philosophy

Poverty and Shamelessness

There is no pride in starving / being poor

Rebuking Sufism

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Contentment is respected

• Relative povertyIn absolute poverty, it conflicts with lack of ambition / action.

Cultural aspects • Positive shame;

modesty, courtesy, shyness etc.

• Family, relationships and individuality.

Poor but generous

Of the heart, ideas, love, warmth, hospitality.

Shame of lineage and identity

• Caste system• Humble background• Shame of poverty seems to follow

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Contentment is respected

• Relative povertyIn absolute poverty, it conflicts with lack of ambition / action.

Cultural aspects • Positive shame;

modesty, courtesy, shyness etc.

• Family, relationships and individuality.

Poor but generous

Of the heart, ideas, love, warmth, hospitality.

Shame of lineage and identity

• Caste system• Humble background• Shame of poverty seems to follow

ChinaPoverty without shame

• Pre-modern Chinese society– Ascribed status with little possibility for upward mobility, means

people have no choice but to accept their economic and social situation

– Justified through Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism – Karma:• when you are alive, you are a poor person; when dead, you are a poor

ghost (Xiao Hong, 646).• when a poor person dies, they may be reborn into a wealthy family

(Han Shaogong). • Communist Revolutionary China

– Poverty is located in the perspective of class struggle; the suffering of people in poverty is caused by the wealthy;

– The poor were told to take pride in their identity:• the poor of the whole world belongs to one family, and we all have the

same last name ‘the poor’; (390) • “mud stuck with mud makes a wall; the poor help the poor to become

the king.” (103)44

India: “Kadha Parayumbol”, 2007

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“Kadha Parayumbol” tells the plight of a poor “barber” who lives with his wife and three children in a village called Melukavu, of Kerala. Barber Balan (Sreenivasan) is struggling to survive in his traditional profession, as he cannot find anyone who would give him a loan to upgrade his “barber shop” without taking a bribe

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Balan comes home. Sreedevi (Balan’s wife) greets him. Sreedevi: You haven’t got fish?Balan: (embarrassingly) I didn’t see fish when I reached the junction.Sreedevi: Then, did you get vegetables?Balan: No, I thought of making some chicken today.Sreedevi: Then, did you get chicken? Balan : (embarrassed) chicken, …. Here…and …there….Sreedevi: our own chicken, I won’t allow. Oh, God! What will I give to children when they come home with empty stomach?Balan: Now, let me decide if you love children or chicken more.Sreedevi: Both are same to me. Today Sonamol (eldest daughter) was very sad to go to school. Balan: Why? What happened? Sreedevi: Today was the last date to pay her fees, and she’ll be out of the class if she fails to pay the same. For Seena and Sathyan, its okay, but Sona is in the 10 th Standard. We need to remember that. Balan: (head down with guilt and embarrassment) I need to get a new scissor and a revolving chair urgently. I heard that Eappachan has a huge “Angilee maram” tree in his land, which may be good for making a revolving chair. I’ll go there today.Sreedevi: whats the use of that? He won’t give wood without money. Moreover, he is a money lender who takes high interest. Balan: Now I’ll have a look at the tree and‘ll buy when I get money.Sreedevi: When will that be? Balan: aaatthe….. (mumbles). Sreedevi: Your pocket is empty, and that’s the reason you’ve not bought fish. Is it so? Couldn’t you borrow 10 rupees from someone in the next shop? Oh, you will not borrow; you are someone with too much of pride (“abhimani”). You know it is how many days since we bought some grocery. There’s nothing at home.

• Harshness of poverty• Embarrassment • Anguish of a poor housewife/mother• Facial and other body signs of poverty

induced shame• Guilt for not earning enough• Humiliation at home• Ashamed to borrow money• Unnecessary pride• Aspirations for getting higher in business• Defensive behavior of the poor• Self-conscious behaviors• “abhimani” – imply that poor has least right

to have self-respect and honor

India: “Kadha Parayumbol”

UK“All or nothing”, 2002

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An apparently dysfunctional family comprising: Phil an apparently lazy but depressed tax-driver; long-term cohabitee Pen, working as a supermarket cashier; an obese silent daughter working as a cleaner in a care home; and an obese son, working age, but unemployed and not looking for work, come together as a consequence of the son suffering a heart attack.

The alienation of mundane lives pressurised by limited income causes them to live alongside each other at a high pitch of anger and inner loneliness.

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UK“All or nothing”, 2002

Scene:Phil looks for coins down side of sofa; in little pots on the mantlepiece.Goes at bedtime into daughter Rachel’s room: ‘Got any spare change..its me whatsaname tomorrow (rent for taxi radio)? I gotta pay it..I don’t na leave you short’Goes to wife in bed reading, ‘I ain’t had a very good week’Penny (wife’) ‘Ain’t ya’Phil ‘No....got any spare?Penny ‘I gotta bit bit, but it ain’t really spare is it?Phil: ‘Can I borrow some, I’ll pay you back at the weekend’Penny: ‘Why don’t you get up earlier in the morning..drive people to work, take ‘em to the airportLater Phil trying to return Penny her money at 3 in the morningHe tries to repay her, but since she is half asleep, she tells Phil not to do it at that time. He still says that he would put them on the sideboard.

Not having enough money, need to borrow

Humiliation of asking daughter and wife, entering their bedrooms.

Wife’s response is to make him feel inadequate

Later transpires that he feels hated, not respected, ‘spoken to like a piece of shit’.

Vulnerability to risk has a connection with vulnerability to shame.

Conclusions• If poverty-shame nexus is strong and universal:

1. It suggests a shared poverty experience across the global South and North

• Poverty-associated shame as a universal metric offers cultural, conceptual, functional, political equivalence

• A global language for policy discourse2. It explains how poverty inhibits economic growth3. If shame is antonym of dignity, connects the social right

to inclusion with the human right to dignity. 4. Suggests that anti-poverty programmes that

create/reinforce shame could prove counterproductive5. Points to best-practice principles for policy design in the

global South and North.

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It is not as straight

forward as one might

think

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Urban China: $2/day Urban China: 50% medianUK: $2/day UK: 50% medianGermany: $2/day Germany: 50% median


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No Hope

• Fatalistic approach• Death seen as the only escape from the trap• Poverty of ambition

Harshness of Poverty

• Structural Issues• Beyond control

Resentment & anger

• Anti social behaviour• Smoking, drugs• Reaction against the rich

Inequality of the Poor

• Socio-economic • Cultural aspects

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Capitalistic ways of shaming the poor working class

• 20th c. literature• Shaming the rich

Shame in wealth accumulation

• At personal level• Redistribution by

state and society

No shame for the working poor

• Thought existed in the 300 years old lit.

• Message of action in the political context.

Charity / Helping out the poor

• Religious roots.• Alleviating poverty and social exclusion.

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poverty and shame a study in eight countries

Documents

se violation of human

cultural rights

fundamental rights

governments rights

poverty universal

idea of poverty

poverty rates

global language of poverty