Le povertà delle classi medie e dei "ceti popolari"

Lower and Middle Class Poverty - Several studies carried out using a dynamic approach show that poverty, although at different degrees of intensity and duration, is no longer an issue concerning only a defined portion of the population living in typically disadvantaged circumstances (e.g. in deprived areas), but is increasingly affecting other social classes that would normally benefit from adequate living conditions, including the growing poorer middle class and those with insecure or low paid jobs. We are not just referring to socially isolated groups of people, but to an intermediate heterogeneous social area, a dissimilar aggregate of individuals experiencing different trajectories of social mobility: members of the impoverished middle class, low income families reduced to poverty by different life events, people with unstable jobs and inadequate family and social support. Although with a different background, they have in common a more lasting precarious condition and a higher risk of poverty compared to other members of the middle class who can rely on better incomes and stronger social support and to the wealthier social classes. These social groups share, at least for a short period of their life, very difficult living conditions potentially affecting several aspects of their existence and limited resources to rely upon to sustain their life projects.

Keywords: Poverty, Lower Class, Middle Class, Low Income Families, Life Projects

Remo Siza, Le povertà delle classi medie e dei "ceti popolari" in "SOCIOLOGIA E POLITICHE SOCIALI" 3/2009, pp 25-52, DOI: 10.3280/SP2009-003003