This volume approaches in an unusual way, at least for the Italian situation, a topic which has high impact on the society: poor’s consumptions. The low-income population, indeed, is mostly studied in a quantitative perspective (who and how many are poor, how much money they have, how much they spend and what to buy) that tells us little about, for example, consumption and savings strategies or about networks of exchange and reciprocity. In the research here reported, however, the qualitative perspective has been privileged, in order to overcome the widespread stereotype that the poor would be excluded from the choice of goods and their existences’ practices. Unusual aspects of poverty have emerged from the analysis of daily life routines and the concrete use of domestic objects and contexts, from the study of behavior related to the media, from the observation of places such as soup kitchens, residential communities, religious help centers, points of distribution of food and clothing. By applying innovative methodologies of research – visual sociology and interviews with photo-stimulation, ethnographic observations, biographic interviews – the authors have shown how people never entirely renounce to build creatively relationships and identities, even in the presence of strong, both cultural and relational, material constraints. Even those who experience in their lives lack of consumption opportunities manage to implement strategies which are alternative to the market, through savings, gifts and exchanges, low cost innovative uses of objects and spaces. This way, consumption practices demonstrate to be a tool toward identity construction, not only for those who hold positions which are already guaranteed, but also for those who, even having limited resources, try to use them for legitimating both their culture and their existence.
Questo volume affronta in maniera insolita, almeno per il panorama italiano, un argomento di grande impatto sociale: i consumi dei poveri. La popolazione a basso reddito, infatti, è per lo più studiata in una prospettiva puramente quantitativa (chi e quanti sono i poveri, di quanto denaro dispongono, quanto ne spendono e per comperare cosa) che poco ci dice, ad esempio, sulle strategie di consumo e di risparmio o sulle reti di scambio e di reciprocità messe in atto. Nelle ricerche qui riportate, invece, si è privilegiata un’ottica di tipo qualitativo, nel tentativo di oltrepassare il diffuso stereotipo secondo il quale i poveri sarebbero esclusi dalla possibilità di scegliere liberamente beni e pratiche della loro esistenza. Volti inediti della povertà sono così emersi dall’analisi delle routines della vita quotidiana e dell’uso concreto degli oggetti e dei contesti domestici, dallo studio dei comportamenti legati ai media, dall’osservazione dei luoghi tradizionalmente deputati a fornire risposte ai bisogni necessari, come le mense, le comunità alloggio, i centri di aiuto religiosi, gli sportelli di distribuzione di cibo e abbigliamento. Applicando metodologie di ricerca innovative - la sociologia visuale e le interviste con foto stimolo, le prolungate osservazioni etnografiche, i racconti di vita - gli autori dei saggi contenuti in questo volume hanno mostrato come, pur in presenza di forti vincoli materiali, culturali e relazionali, le persone non rinunciano mai del tutto a costruire creativamente relazioni e identità. Anche chi vive una condizione di consumo difettoso o mancante, che sempre più spesso viene percepita come una condanna sociale, riesce a mettere in atto strategie alternative al mercato attraverso il risparmio, il dono e lo scambio, il riuso delle cose, gli impieghi innovativi di oggetti e spazi a basso costo. In tal modo si riconferma il potenziale identificativo e di riconoscimento sociale delle pratiche di consumo non solo per le persone che occupano posizioni già garantite, ma anche per chi, pur disponendo di risorse limitate, cerca di usarle per legittimare insieme la propria cultura e la propria esistenza.
Lunghi, C., Bovone, L., Introduzione. I consumi e i poveri: nuovi stili di ricerca, in Lunghi, C., Bovone, L. (ed.), Consumi ai margini, Donzelli, Roma 2009: VII- XVI [http://hdl.handle.net/10807/27647]
Introduzione. I consumi e i poveri: nuovi stili di ricerca
Lunghi, Carla;Bovone, Laura
2009
Abstract
This volume approaches in an unusual way, at least for the Italian situation, a topic which has high impact on the society: poor’s consumptions. The low-income population, indeed, is mostly studied in a quantitative perspective (who and how many are poor, how much money they have, how much they spend and what to buy) that tells us little about, for example, consumption and savings strategies or about networks of exchange and reciprocity. In the research here reported, however, the qualitative perspective has been privileged, in order to overcome the widespread stereotype that the poor would be excluded from the choice of goods and their existences’ practices. Unusual aspects of poverty have emerged from the analysis of daily life routines and the concrete use of domestic objects and contexts, from the study of behavior related to the media, from the observation of places such as soup kitchens, residential communities, religious help centers, points of distribution of food and clothing. By applying innovative methodologies of research – visual sociology and interviews with photo-stimulation, ethnographic observations, biographic interviews – the authors have shown how people never entirely renounce to build creatively relationships and identities, even in the presence of strong, both cultural and relational, material constraints. Even those who experience in their lives lack of consumption opportunities manage to implement strategies which are alternative to the market, through savings, gifts and exchanges, low cost innovative uses of objects and spaces. This way, consumption practices demonstrate to be a tool toward identity construction, not only for those who hold positions which are already guaranteed, but also for those who, even having limited resources, try to use them for legitimating both their culture and their existence.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.