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Vanishing Assets: Cumulative Disadvantage among the Urban Poor

Author

Listed:
  • Mercedes González De La Rocha

    (Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social)

Abstract

This article attempts to generate a new understanding of economic change and household responses in Mexico. It reflects on the changing conditions of survival and reproduction among the Mexican urban working poor in a socioeconomic context of diminishing income-generating opportunities. The author argues that rising poverty has had serious effects on dimensions (beyond economic) of the lives of the poor—in particular, the erosion of the capacity of the poor to maintain networks of social exchange. The author strongly argues in favor of diachronic analyses of economic transformations and their impact on household dynamics to capture social and family processes that are not fully understood by synchronic views of household life and livelihoods. The diachronic view allowed the author to show the limits of the strategies of survival and the inadequate explanations resulting from views that uncritically assume the endlessness of resources in the hands of the poor.

Suggested Citation

  • Mercedes González De La Rocha, 2006. "Vanishing Assets: Cumulative Disadvantage among the Urban Poor," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 606(1), pages 68-94, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:606:y:2006:i:1:p:68-94
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716206288779
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Adolfo Figueroa & Teofilo Altamirano & Denis Sulmont, 1996. "Social exclusion and inequality in Peru," Libros no PUCP / Books other publishers, Otras editoriales / Other publishers, edition 1, number otr-1996-02, February.
    2. Altha J. Cravey, 1997. "The Politics of Reproduction: Households in the Mexican Industrial Transition," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(2), pages 166-186, April.
    3. González de la Rocha, Mercedes, 1995. "The urban family and poverty in Latin America," Libros de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 2300.
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