Parents on Low Benefits - Coping with Poverty

Abstract

We analyze coping strategies emerging as responses to relative poverty in families with children who receive the lowest benefits in Denmark. We use complementary theoretical perspectives, including Bourdieu’s theory of practice, Archer’s perspective on reflectivity as inner conversations, and Lazarus’ psychological views on coping. We focus on two very different families coping with poverty and show how the parents’ dispositions, the structured situations in which they act, the individuals’ unique characteristics, and their choices shape their coping strategies. This paper offers social workers a theoretical framework to familiarize themselves with both the living conditions and the strategies of poor parents.