Emotions, Solidarity and Social Work in Situation of Poverty

The aim of the presentation is to describe the first results of a qualitative, exploratory and preliminary research aimed to explore if and how the emotional dimension intervenes in poverty and what role it may have in the processes of entering or exiting this reality as well as in strengthening or undermining social cohesion and solidarity. In order to exploore this issue we carried out a content analysis on forty interviews with parents in conditions of economic poverty conducted within the framework of the Research Project of National Interest (PRIN) "Constructions of parenthood on uncertain ground. What role for social work". The analysis allowed to highlight the wide range of emotions felt by people in poverty which contribute to gain a complete and more complex image of them in which we can see more positive aspects than negative ones. What emerged, in fact, were not only emotions like shame and desperation that are usually ascribed to poor people, but also many other positive emotions which are not usually considered to affect them. In particular, the analysis focuses on three of these positive emotions - gratitude, solidarity and pride – and highlight how they develop in the relationship between people living in poverty and who are not in this condition, and how they contribute to strengthening social cohesion and solidarity. Moreover our analysis allow to recognize how social workers may contribute to enforce the positive impact of emotions that results in enabling processes as well as to reduce it with the consequence of disabling poor people to cope with hardship. The results confirm that the sociology of emotions is a promising perspective to deepen the conditions of people living in poverty and contribute to counteract stereotypes and prejudice about them, and open new pathways for further research.