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

/in , /by

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.

Sick unemployed – Same benefits but fewer sanctions – Results from the research group in the FIS briefing

/in , /by

This year’s FIS Forum had to be cancelled due to the effects of the corona pandemic. Nevertheless, current research results from the project could be published in this year’s FIS-Briefing 2020 of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS). The MEPYSO publication can be found here, all other contributions here.

New Publication: Medicalisation and psychologisation of poverty? An analysis of the scientific poverty discourse from 1956 to 2017

/in , /by

Stephan Krayter and Nadine Reibling just published a systematic review of scientific publications on poverty in the Journal of Poverty and Social Justice. In this article, the authors ask whether medical and psychological disciplines are increasingly publishing on poverty and whether they are outpacing economic and legal disciplines. The results indicate that this is indeed the case. In recent decades, medicine and psychology have been among the fastest growing scientific disciplines dealing with the issue of poverty. This points to a change in the way poverty is recognized in the scientific community.

Krayter, S., & Reibling, N. (2020). Medicalisation and psychologisation of poverty? An analysis of the scientific poverty discourse from 1956 to 2017.