Abstract:

Strategies of poverty alleviation strategies vary based on countries’ current welfare regime in the country. Both the poverty and the strategies of the public and individuals to fight against poverty in Turkey have gained a different meaning with the neoliberal transformation process that took place after 1980 in the prevailing welfare regime. In this period, like the welfare regime, poverty also experienced a significant change. As a result of this transformation process, the poor of this period, in which the concept of “new poverty” came to the fore, were deprived of the anti-poverty strategies of the immigrants of the previous period and the resources that support these strategies. The aim of this study is to reveal the effects of this erosion process on the poor. Within the scope of the study, in-depth interviews were conducted with the poor who applied for social assistance and with the personnel of the institutions providing social assistance and social services to the poor. As a result of these interviews, the change in poverty alleviation strategies of the poor comes to the fore. With the erosion of the opportunities of the previous period, especially in terms of housing and employment, the poor became dependent on social assistance, which is a prominent element of the post-1980 welfare regime in order to sustain their lives.

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