New Publication: The Role of Health and Illness in the German Poverty Discourse – A Content Analysis of the Poverty and Wealth Reports

In their article within the latest issue of the Journal of Social Policy Research, Mareike Ariaans and Nadine Reibling investigate the role of health within the political poverty discourse in Germany. For this purpose, the authors review the poverty and wealth reports of the German government published since 2001 by emplyoing medicalization theory. Using qualitative and quantitative content analysis, they examine how health and illness are portrayed in the reports. In the evaluation it is evident that poverty is mainly described as a cause of illness. The formulated and proposed interventions nevertheless focus primarily on improving the health care system rather than on anti-poverty programs. Prevention and especially setting-based prevention have become more important measures in the last two reports. At the same time, these reports show a shift away from individual responsibility toward a stronger discussion of structural causes.

Ariaans, Mareike; Reibling, Nadine (2021): Die Rolle von Gesundheit und Krankheit im deutschen Armutsdiskurs. In: Zeitschrift für Sozialreform 67 (2), S. 123–152.