Conceptualizing Poverty: A Look Inside the Indonesian Household
Abstract
As a result of the recent crisis in Indonesia, the question of how to conceptualize poverty is on the forefront of the nation's social and political agenda. Through an in-depth look inside the Indonesian household, this paper explores the continual tension in the poverty literature between the reductionists' who confine poverty to a limited set of variables, and the generalists' who believe that poverty is a broader, more complex phenomena. Through the analysis of an ethnographic case study based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, this paper examines how local residents conceptualize poverty. Residents identified multiple facets of poverty, including: food insecurity, inadequate income and employment, single income households, inequality, inability to keep pace with modernization, and social exclusion. In addition, residents described poverty as a lack of everything'-serba Kekurangan. This conceptualization provides insight into the interaction among the various facets of poverty that in turn make poverty a dynamic and intractable process. This finding is congruent with the generalist' view of poverty and is significant for policymakers as they formulate alleviation strategies.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA372018
Entities
People
- Victoria A. Beard
Organizations
- RAND Corporation