Who is poor? Analysis of social representations in an Argentine sample

Abstract Different organizations register alarming poverty rates in Argentina. However, there may be differences in who is considered poor according to these measurements and who is considered poor by society, from common sense knowledge. This work analyzes the social representations of people living in poverty in a sample of 605 Argentines, using the free-word association technique. The results suggest that the poor person is first understood as someone who suffers from hunger, a definition that corresponds to indigence according to the official entity that measures poverty and indigence in Argentina. However, while the core of the representation manifests a significant presence of elements of monetary poverty and its effects on nutrition (hunger), the peripheral system shows the deficit in various social rights, such as education, housing, work, and health. Following these results, it is argued that equating poverty with indigence would render the situation of millions of people in Argentina invisible.

摘要 阿根廷多家机构统计的贫困率均令人担忧。然而，依据此类统计标准界定的贫困群体，与基于常识的社会大众所认定的贫困群体或存在差异。本研究采用自由词联想技术，对605名阿根廷受访者组成的贫困群体样本的社会表征展开分析。研究结果显示，大众首先将贫困者认知为遭受饥饿困扰的人群，这一定义与阿根廷负责统计贫困与赤贫（indigence）状况的官方机构所界定的赤贫标准相符。不过，尽管该社会表征的核心层面显著体现出货币贫困及其对营养状况（饥饿）的影响，其外围层面则反映出教育、住房、就业与健康等多项社会权利的匮乏。基于上述研究结果，本研究指出，若将贫困与赤贫混为一谈，将会使阿根廷数百万民众的真实处境被忽视。