Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T19:31:04.276Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Resilience, Agency and Coping with Hardship: Evidence from Europe during the Great Recession

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2018

HULYA DAGDEVIREN Open the ORCID record for HULYA DAGDEVIREN [Opens in a new window]  and
MATTHEW DONOGHUE
HULYA DAGDEVIREN
Affiliation:
University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, AL10 9AB email: h.dagdeviren@herts.ac.uk
MATTHEW DONOGHUE
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, Social Policy and Intervention, Barnett House, 32 Wellington Square, Oxford, Oxfordshire, UKOX1 2ER email: matthew.donoghue@spi.ox.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to the growing literature on resilience by focusing on coping with hardship during the Great Recession, drawing upon primary data gathered through household and key informant interviews in nine European countries. As the resilience approach highlights agency, the paper examines the nature of household responses to hardship during this period on the basis of the ‘structure-agency problem’. An important contribution of this paper is to identify different forms of agency and discuss their implications. More specifically, we conceptualise three different types of agency in coping with hardship: absorptive, adaptive and transformative. Analysis of the findings indicates that structural constraints remain prominent. Most coping mechanisms fall under the category of absorptive and adaptive agency characterised here as burden-bearing actions that ‘conform’ to changing circumstances rather than shaping those circumstances.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 48 , Issue 3 , July 2019 , pp. 547 - 567
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Archer, M. (1995), Realist Social Theory: The Morphogenetic Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Archer, M. (2010), ‘Morphogenesis versus structuration: on combining structure and action’, The British Journal of Sociology, 61:S1, 225–252Google Scholar
Arnal, M., Castro, C., Martin, P., Revilla, J. C. and Serrano, A. (2015), Socio-economic practices of resilience in Spain, RESCuE Workpackage Four National Report.Google Scholar
Barba, A. and Pivetti, M. (2009), Rising Household Debt: Its Causes and Macroeconomic Implications, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 33: 113–137Google Scholar
Bates, S. R. (2006), ‘Making Time for Change: On Temporal Conceptualizations within (Critical Realist) Approaches to the Relationship between Structure and Agency’. Sociology, 40: 1, 143–161Google Scholar
Batty, E. and Cole, I. (2010), Resilience and the recession in six deprived communities. JRF programme paper: Poverty and Place series.Google Scholar
Béné, C., Frankenberger, T. and Nelson, S. (2015), ‘Design, monitoring and evaluation of resilience interventions’. Institute of Development Studies Working Paper, No 459Google Scholar
Bercht, A. L. (2013), ‘Resilience in face of changing living conditions in Guangzou’, China. Erkunde, 67: 1, 63–74Google Scholar
Berkes, F., Colding, J. and Folke, C. (eds) (2003), Navigating social–ecological systems: building resilience for complexity and change. Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Bhaskar, R. (1989), Reclaiming Reality. London: VersoGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1977), Outline of a Theory of Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1993), Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Boost, M. and Meier, L. (2017), Resilient practices of consumption in times of crisis—Biographical interviews with members of vulnerable households in Germany, International Journal of Consumer Studies, early view, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12346Google Scholar
Busch, K., Hermann, C., Hinrichs, K. and Schulten, T. (2013), ‘Euro Crisis, Austerity Policy and the European Social Model’, Friedrich Ebert Siftung paperGoogle Scholar
Canvin, K., Marttila, A., Burstrom, B. and Whitehead, M. (2009), ‘Tales of the unexpected? Hidden resilience in poor households in Britain’, Social Science and Medicine, 69: 238–245Google Scholar
Caplan, L. J. and Schooler, C. (2007), ‘Socioeconomic status and financial coping strategies’, Social Psychology Quarterly 70:1, 43–58Google Scholar
Capucha, L., Calado, A. and Estevao, P. (2015), Socio-economic Practices of Resilience in Portugal. RESCuE Workpackage Four National Report.Google Scholar
Chandler, D. (2013), ‘International state-building and the ideology of resilience’, Politics 33: 4, 276–286Google Scholar
Crow, G. (1989), ‘The use of the concept of ‘strategy’ in recent sociological literature’, Sociology, 23, 1–24Google Scholar
Cynamon, B. Z. and Fazzari, S. M. (2016), Inequality, the Great Recession and Slow Recovery. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2016, 40: 373–399Google Scholar
Dagdeviren, H.; Donoghue, M. and Promberger, M. (2016), ‘Resilience, hardship and social conditions’, Journal of Social Policy, 45: 1, 1–20Google Scholar
Dagdeviren, H.; Donoghue, M. and Meier, L. (2017), ‘The narratives of Hardship: The new & the old poor in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis’, Sociological Review, 65: 2, 369–385Google Scholar
Daly, M. and Kelly, G. (2015), Families and Poverty: Everyday life on a Low Income, Bristol University Press, BristolGoogle Scholar
Datta, K., McIlwaine, C., Evans, Y., Herbert, J., May, J. and Wills, J. (2007), ‘From coping strategies to tactics’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 45:2, 404–432Google Scholar
Dearcon, S. (2002), ‘Income risk, coping strategies, and safety nets’, World Bank Research Observer, 17:2, 141–166Google Scholar
Dymski, G. A. (2010), Why the Subprime Crisis is Different: a Minskyian Approach, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 34: 239–55Google Scholar
Elder, G. H. (1974), Children of the Great Depression: Social change in life experience. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Elster, J. (1986), Rational Choice. Oxford: Basil BlackwellGoogle Scholar
Erden, A. and Senturk, H. T. (2015), Socio-economic Practices of Resilience in Turkey. RESCuE Workpackage Four National ReportGoogle Scholar
Ferragina, E. and Seeleib-Kaiser, M. (2011), ‘Welfare regime debate: past, present, futures?’, Policy and Politics 39 (4): 583–611Google Scholar
Fraser, M. W., Richman, J. M. and Galinsky, M. J. (1999), Risk, protection, and resilience: Toward a conceptual framework for social work practice, Social Work Research, 23: 131–143.Google Scholar
Frost, L. and Hoggett, P. (2008), ‘Human agency and social suffering’, Critical Social Policy 28:4, 438–460.Google Scholar
Giddens, A. (1979), Central Problems in Social Theory: Action, Structure, and Contradiction in Social Analysis. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Giddens, A. (1984), The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Gray, J. and Dagg, J. (2018), ‘Using reflexive lifelines in biographical interviews to aid the collection, visualisation and analysis of resilience’, Contemporary Social Science, DOI: 10.1080/21582041.2018.1459818Google Scholar
Harrison, E. (2013), ‘Bouncing back? Recession, resilience and everyday lives’, Critical Social Policy, 33:1, 97–113.Google Scholar
Heflin, C., London, S. A. and Scott, E. K. (2011), ‘Mitigating material hardship’, Sociological Inquiry, 81: 2, 223–46.Google Scholar
Henley, J. R., Danziger, S. K. and Offer, S. (2005), ‘The contribution of social support to the material well-being of low-income families’, Journal of Marriage and Family 67, 122–140.Google Scholar
Holling, C. S. (1973), Resilience and stability of economic systems. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 4: 1–23.Google Scholar
Holling, C. S. (2001), ‘Understanding the complexity of economic, ecological, and social systems’, Ecosystems, 4, 390–405Google Scholar
Kampouri, N., Marinoudi, S. and Petraki, G. (2015), Socio-economic Practices of Resilience in Greece. RESCuE Workpackage Four National Report.Google Scholar
Keck, M. and Sakdapolrak, P. (2013), ‘What is social resilience?’ Erkunde, 67:1, 5–19Google Scholar
Kennett, P., Jones, G., Meegan, R. and Croft, J. (2015), ‘Recession, Austerity and the “Great Risk Shift”: Local Government and Household Impact and Responses in Bristol and Liverpool’, Local Government Studies, 41:4, 622–644Google Scholar
King, A. (2009), ‘Overcoming Structure and Agency’ Journal of Classical Sociology, 9:2, 260–288Google Scholar
Lokshin, M. M. and Yemtsov, R. (2004), ‘Household strategies of coping with shocks in post-crisis Russia’, Review of Development Economics, 8:1, 15–32.Google Scholar
Lowndes, V. and McCaughie, K. (2013), Weathering the perfect storm? Austerity and institutional resilience in local government, Policy & Politics, 41 (4): 533–549(17).Google Scholar
Luthar, S. S., Cicchetti, D. and Becker, B. (2000), The construct of resilience: A critical evaluation and guidelines for future work. Child Development, 71 (3): 543–562.Google Scholar
Masten, A. (2001), Ordinary Magic: resilience processes in development, American Psychologist, 56 (3): 227–238.Google Scholar
Meier, L., Boost, M. and Promberger, M. (2015), Socio-economic Practices of Resilience in Germany. RESCuE Workpackage Four National Report.Google Scholar
Mullin, W. J and Arce, M. (2008), ‘Resilience of families living in poverty’, Journal of Family Social Work, 11:4, 424–440Google Scholar
Obrist, B., Pfeiffer, C. and Henley, R. (2010), Multi-layered social resilience: a new approach in mitigation research, Progress in Development Studies, 10 (4): 283–293.Google Scholar
Okech, D., Howard, W. J., Mauldin, T., Mimura, Y. and Kim, J (2012), ‘The effects of economic pressure on the resilience and strengths of individuals living in extreme poverty’ Journal of Poverty, 16:4, 429–446Google Scholar
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (2015), ‘Structural Reforms in Europe: Achievements and Homework’. OECD “Better Policies” series, AprilGoogle Scholar
Orthner, D. K., Jones-Sanpei, H. and Williamson, S. (2004), ‘The resilience and strengths of low-income families’, Family Relations, 53:2, 159–67.Google Scholar
Ortiz, I., Cummins, M., Capaldo, J. and Karunanethy, K. (2015), ‘The Decade of Adjustment: A Review of Austerity Trends 2010–2020 in 187 Countries’, International Labour Organisation Extension of Social Security Working Paper 53Google Scholar
Pahl, R. E. (1984), Divisions of Labour. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Park, C. (2006), ‘Risk pooling between households and risk-coping measures in developing countries’, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 54:2, 423–457.Google Scholar
Parsons, T. (1937), The Structure of Social Action, New York: MacGrawHill.Google Scholar
Piirainen, T. (1997), Towards a New Social Order in Russia: Transforming Structures in Everyday Life, Dartmouth PublishingGoogle Scholar
Raco, M. and Street, E. (2012), ‘Resilience planning, economic change and the politics of post-recession development in London and Hong Kong’, Urban Studies, 49:5, 1065–1087Google Scholar
Revilla, J. C., Martín, P. and de Castro, C. (2018), The reconstruction of resilience as a social and collective phenomenon: poverty and coping capacity during the economic crisis, European Societies, 20 (1): 89–110.Google Scholar
Rose, A. (2007), ‘Economic resilience to natural and man-made disasters’, Environmental Hazards, 7:4, 383–398Google Scholar
Schatzki, T. R. (1997), Practices and Actions a Wittgensteinian Critique of Bourdieu and Giddens. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 27 (3): 283–308.Google Scholar
Standing, G. (2011), The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class. Bloomsbury Academic.Google Scholar
Smith, A. and Stenning, A. C. (2006), ‘Beyond household economies’, Progress in Human Geography, 30:2, 190–213.Google Scholar
Sewell, W. H. (1992), ‘A theory of structure: duality, agency, and transformation’, American Journal of Sociology, 98:1, 1–29Google Scholar
Snel, E. and Staring, R. M. (2001), Poverty, Migration and Coping Strategies: an introduction, Focaal: European Journal of Anthropology, 38: 7–22.Google Scholar
Tilly, L. A. (1987), ‘Beyond family strategies, what?’ Historical Methodology, 20, 123–126.Google Scholar
Tregenna, F. (2009), The Fat Years: the Structure and Profitability of the US banking sector in the Pre-crisis Period, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 33: 609–632Google Scholar
Vale, D. (2009), Exploring household resilience in Teesside. Young Foundation.Google Scholar
Vuojala-Magga, T., Tennberg, M. and Vola, J. (2015), Socio-economic Practices of Resilience in Finland. RESCuE Workpackage Four National Report.Google Scholar
Walsh-Dilley, M., Wolford, W. and McCarthy, J. (2016), ‘Rights for resilience: bringing power, rights and agency into the resilience framework’, Ecology and Society, 21, 1–11Google Scholar
Wallace, C. (2002), ‘Household strategies: their conceptual relevance and analytical scope in social research’, Sociology, 36: 2, 275–292Google Scholar
Wodz, K., Nowalska-Kapuścik, D. and Mandrysz, W. (2015), Socio-economic Practices of Resilience in Poland. RESCuE Workpackage Four National Report.Google Scholar