تصویر فقر در ذهنیت داوطلبان سازمان های مردم نهاد و افراد فقیر (مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)
درجه علمی: نشریه علمی (وزارت علوم)
آرشیو
چکیده
مسئله اصلی این پژوهش بررسی نحوه بازنمایی فقر در ذهنیت داوطلبان سازمان های مردم نهاد و افراد فقیر است؛ موضوعی که با وجود اهمیت در سیاست گذاری های اجتماعی، کمتر مورد توجه مطالعات تجربی قرار گرفته است. در این مطالعه تلاش شده است تا نحوه درک و تفسیر فقر از منظر دو گروه یادشده واکاوی شود. پژوهش با رویکرد کیفی و روش تحلیل مضمون انجام شده و میدان آن شامل داوطلبان و مددجویان سازمان های مردم نهاد فقرزدای مستقر در شهر تهران است. نمونه گیری به شیوه هدفمند و با تکنیک گلوله برفی انجام شده و تعداد نمونه های انتخاب شده در حوزه داوطلبان 14 نفر و در حیطه فقرا 10 نفر است. یافته ها حاکی از آن است که ذهنیت داوطلبان در دو چارچوب اصلی قابل دسته بندی است: رویکرد «فرهنگ فقر» که در میان داوطلبان فاقد پیش زمینه علوم اجتماعی دیده می شود و فقر را ناشی از ضعف های فردی می داند و رویکرد «ساختارگرایانه» که فقر را پدیده ای چندبُعدی با ریشه در ساختارهای ناعادلانه اجتماعی، اقتصادی و نهادی در نظر می گیرد و در میان داوطلبانی با پیشینه علوم اجتماعی و سابقه فعالیت زیاد به چشم می خورد. از سوی دیگر، تحلیل گفت وگوها با خود افراد فقیر نشان می دهد آنان نیز بیشتر عوامل ساختاری و نهادی را علت فقر خود قلمداد می کنند. نتایج این پژوهش بر ضرورت توجه به برداشت های متنوع از فقر در سیاست گذاری های اجتماعی و طراحی مؤثر برنامه های فقرزدایی تأکید دارد.Perceptions of Poverty among NGO Volunteers and Poor Individuals
Introduction Contemporary sociological approaches emphasize the multidimensional nature of poverty. One of the most prominent theories for understanding social realities such as poverty is Berger and Luckmann’s social constructionism, which conceives of social reality not as objective and independent, but rather as the product of human interactions and processes of meaning-making among individuals (Berger & Luckmann, 2011 [1390 Persian edition]). According to reports published by the Statistical Center of Iran and several research institutions, the rate of income poverty in Tehran has risen in recent years, with estimates suggesting that in some southern and peripheral districts of the city, up to 30 percent of households live below the poverty line (Research Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, 2023; Tehran Municipality, 2022). Nevertheless, the ideas, beliefs, and interpretive frameworks of volunteers—as key actors within these organizations—as well as those of the poor themselves, have received comparatively little scholarly attention. Furthermore, meta-synthesis studies of poverty research in Iran indicate that the predominance of a purely economic perspective, the neglect of discriminatory structures, and the taken-for-granted assumptions regarding the causes of poverty have resulted in policies that fail to correspond with the lived experiences and real needs of the disadvantaged (Amirpanahi & Namian, 2022; Mohammadi et al., 2012; Taleb et al., 2010). This study seeks to address questions such as: How is poverty understood and represented by local actors? What similarities and differences exist between the perspectives of volunteers and those of the poor themselves? And what role do these interpretations play in shaping the nature of social interventions? Methodology This study employed a qualitative research design using thematic analysis. The fieldwork involved two groups of participants: first, volunteers actively engaged in poverty alleviation NGOs in Tehran; and second, impoverished families—including children, women, and men—who were beneficiaries of these organizations and residents of Tehran. To identify and access participants among both the NGO volunteers and the poor, purposive sampling combined with the snowball technique was applied. Considering criteria such as engagement in livelihood-related activities, the breadth of services provided, organizational track record, volunteer willingness to participate in interviews, and location in Tehran, three NGOs were selected as case studies: Zanjireh-ye Eshq va Omid , Jam’iyat-e Hamyaran-e Ostan-e Tehran, and Anjoman-e Koodak Pouyesh. Each interviewed volunteer subsequently referred the researcher to additional volunteers and other poverty-alleviation NGOs in Tehran. In total, the researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 volunteers, concluding data collection once theoretical saturation was reached and no new information emerged. Following this, the participating volunteers introduced the first group of poor individuals, who were beneficiaries of the NGOs. After the initial interviews, these individuals themselves facilitated the researcher’s access to subsequent participants. In this second group, 10 interviews were conducted with poor individuals. Data collection ceased once theoretical saturation was again reached, as no new insights emerged in further interviews. Findings Volunteers with academic backgrounds in fields such as engineering, management, and psychology, or with limited prior experience in voluntary work, tended to view poverty as a trap woven by the poor themselves, in which they remain ensnared. This group of volunteers predominantly emphasized non-structural causes of poverty, identifying addiction as the most decisive factor. In many cases, they expressed a tendency to blame the poor for their situation, attributing poverty to their past misconduct or weak faith. In contrast, volunteers who were studying or had graduated in the social sciences, or who had more extensive volunteer experience, perceived poverty as a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. From their perspective, poverty is not merely economic but encompasses various dimensions such as food security, education, skills, and culture. They emphasized the role of structural factors—including economic, social, managerial, and governmental structures—and the state’s inability to ensure justice as central to the production and perpetuation of poverty. Furthermore, they noted that negative societal attitudes toward the poor, along with the stigmatizing behaviors of the middle and upper classes, contribute to marginalizing and excluding the poor from the social sphere. Moreover, when poor participants were asked about the causes of their poverty, contrary to common assumptions, they seldom attributed their deprivation to individual or familial shortcomings. Instead, they overwhelmingly pointed to structural and institutional factors as the primary sources of their hardship. Discussion One of the most significant theoretical perspectives on poverty and poverty alleviation is social constructionism. From this viewpoint, concepts such as poverty are not pre-existing realities waiting to be discovered; rather, they are semantic and intersubjective phenomena constructed and reconstructed within the context of everyday interactions, prevailing discourses, and field experiences. Accordingly, in poverty studies informed by social constructionism, the central question is not what poverty is , but rather how poverty is understood, labeled, justified, and reproduced, and by whom . The importance of adopting a social constructionist approach in poverty research lies in its implications for social policy. The way poverty is understood by those active in poverty-alleviation NGOs shapes the strategies and solutions pursued within these organizations. Furthermore, this perspective encourages recognition of diverse interpretations among different actors and cautions against absolute or reductionist views of poverty. Overall, the varying constructions of poverty among volunteers and the poor reflect their class backgrounds, cultural capital, discursive contexts, and everyday experiences. These differences in understanding not only shape how poverty is perceived and engaged with but also play a crucial role in the design and implementation of poverty alleviation interventions by NGOs. Hence, paying close attention to the processes through which meaning is socially constructed constitutes one of the keys to achieving a more realistic and effective understanding of poverty and the ways to address it.
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