Shame, social exclusion and the effectiveness of anti-poverty programmes: A study in seven countries 2010-2012

The research examines Amartya Sen's contention that shame is an attribute of poverty in all societies. Shame is believed to reduce a person's agency, the capacity to act constructively, and to increase social exclusion which, in turn, curtail economic development.
It will take place by in rural Uganda and India, urban China and UK and in small town Norway, supplemented by doctoral work in urban Pakistan, small town South Korea and, possibly, urban Germany.
The research has four elements. (1) Exploration of cultural conceptions of poverty and shame through analysis of literature, film and, in Uganda, drama. (2) Learning from people with direct experience of poverty through undertaking depth interviews with adults and children living in low income households. (3) Examination of the role of the public in shaming poor people by conducting focus groups with persons of low-middle status and middle-high status and through statistical analysis of the World Values Survey.
(4) A policy analysis of social assistance and other anti-poverty programmes in order to identify language, policy structures and implementation practices likely to moderate or exacerbate any shame attached to being poor, leading to the preparation of a set of principles to inform the design of anti-poverty policy.

本研究旨在验证阿玛蒂亚·森（Amartya Sen）的核心论断：在所有社会形态中，羞耻感均为贫困的一项固有属性。既有研究普遍认为，羞耻感会削弱个体的能动性（agency）——即建设性行动的能力，并加剧社会排斥，进而对经济发展形成制约。
本研究的调研场域涵盖乌干达与印度的农村地区、中国城市与英国城市，以及挪威的小城镇；同时辅以巴基斯坦城市、韩国小城镇的博士阶段研究工作，或将纳入德国城市的相关调研内容。
本研究包含四大研究模块：
(1) 通过对文学、影视作品的文本分析，以及乌干达地区的戏剧文本分析，探究贫困与羞耻感的文化认知维度；
(2) 针对生活在低收入家庭中的成人与儿童群体开展深度访谈，从拥有直接贫困经历的受访者手中获取一手研究资料；
(3) 一方面组织中低阶层与中高阶层群体开展焦点小组访谈，另一方面对世界价值观调查（World Values Survey）的公开数据进行统计分析，以此考察公众在羞辱贫困群体过程中所扮演的角色；
(4) 对社会救助及其他反贫困项目开展政策分析，以识别可能缓解或加剧贫困群体所背负羞耻感的语言表述、政策架构与实施实践，并据此拟定一套用于指导反贫困政策设计的原则。