‘I am not poor. Poor children live in Africa’: Social identity and children's perspectives on growing up in contexts of poverty and deprivation in the Netherlands

Abstract

This study focuses on problems children living in contexts of poverty face in daily life and how they perceive poverty. Findings are based on research with children (8–12 years) from impoverished areas in the Netherlands. Besides the problems as identified by the children, such as the poor quality of playgrounds and the lack of money for activities, we identified a striking paradox, namely the taboo on or denial of poverty versus the pervasiveness of poverty. To understand and handle this contradiction, we reflect on representation of children growing up in contexts of poverty through a social identity framework.

Beyond a deficiencies approach: Towards a more integral representation of the everyday life of children growing up in contexts of poverty

“…This study aims to contribute to understanding perspectives and experiences of children growing up in contexts of poverty on their lives and well-being, by engaging children in participatory action research (PAR) with photovoice as the main method. The article elaborates on and extends an earlier paper (Sarti et al, 2015) in which we explored how children made sense of their lives in the context of poverty. This article focuses on tracing the resources, in particular of social support, available to and accessed by children.…”

“…Understanding how child poverty affects daily life requires that we listen to children and pay attention to their current experiences and perspectives. As we have discussed elsewhere (Sarti et al, 2015), studying youth poverty is challenging and requires a lifeworld orientation, which means that researchers focus on the complex and dynamic relationship between the individual and society and capture the child's voice in its interactional context (Roets et al, 2013). Employing a lifeworld orientation also enables us to engender a more complete picture of children as 'beings' actively relating to and shaping their daily lives, and contributes to countering the prevailing image of children living in poverty as merely destitute and in need of help.…”

“…Research on child poverty typically takes a deficiencies approach that focuses on material deficiencies, which are considered to have a profoundly negative impact on children's well-being. From an emic perspective, however, there are indications that growing up in a context of poverty is not experienced only as negative, but rather forms a backdrop to children's experiences -both positive and negative (Sarti et al, 2015;Roets et al, 2013;Sime, 2008). Furthermore, it is not only the material aspects of being poor that are relevant, as we know from prior research that well-being is primarily seen in relational terms (Fattore et al, 2009;Jalongo, 2007;Thomas et al, 2016).…”

Exploring the boundaries of ‘good’ Participatory Action Research in times of increasing popularity: dealing with constraints in local policy for digital inclusion

“…The project was funded by the poverty director at the City of Amsterdam. Based on a former project with children living in poverty (Sarti et al 2017;Sarti, Schalkers, and Dedding 2015), the first author (CD) was invited to attend a meeting in which choices would be made on how to accommodate the needs of children in relation to digital inclusion. A group of professionals attended the meeting.…”

‘McDonald’s Is Good for My Social Life’. Developing Health Promotion Together with Adolescent Girls from Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods in Amsterdam

“…On average, adolescents at these school levels suffer more from overweight than their peers at higher school levels (Gemeente Amsterdam, ). As a non‐stigmatising proxy for low SEP (Sarti, Schalkers and Dedding, ), participants had to live in one of the two disadvantaged neighbourhoods (Table ).…”