A Phenomenological Model of Child Poverty: A Research on the State- Subsidized Children in Istanbul

Dalfidan F.

Sosyal Siyaset Konferansları Dergisi/Journal of Social Policy Conferences, sa.79, ss.1-26, 2020 (Hakemli Dergi)

Özet

Although the static dimension of child poverty, which corresponds to deprivations experienced in daily

life, is a field of interest in both research and policy, study of the dynamic dimension of child poverty,

which corresponds to children’s reactions, is mostly neglected in Turkey. Based on this deficiency, this study

focuses on poor child types in relation to the findings obtained as a consequence of the phenomenological

investigation of children’s coping strategies with poverty in daily life. The findings rely on field research,

which was conducted with children between the ages of 11 and 15 living in the poor regions of Istanbul

and state-subsidized ones. The differences among poor children were divided into four different child types:

Rescuer child, substituting child, foundation-integrated child, and protectionist child. This typology, which

is the outcome of the phenomenological approach, was expressed as the phenomenological model of child

poverty. This model has brought both the heterogeneous quality of child poverty and structural and cultural

factors neglected in coping strategies into the forefront. Besides, the agency possibilities of poor children in

certain contexts are revealed by means of this model.