Perceptions of Fortune and Misfortune in Older South African Households: Social Assistance and the 'Good Life'
Perceptions of Fortune and Misfortune in Older South African Households: Social Assistance and the 'Good Life'
复制标题
南非老年家庭对财富和不幸的看法：社会援助和“美好生活”
DOI：
10.1007/s11205-012-0026-8
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发表时间：
2012
影响因子：
3.1
通讯作者：
Møller V
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Møller V
人们普遍认为，生活水平的提高会促进主观幸福感。后种族隔离时代的南非政府赞同这一观点；其社会政策旨在“为所有人提供更好的生活”。自1994年实行民主以来，国家已建造了300多万套住房，并为贫困家庭提供了电力和清洁水。到2009年，估计有43%的家庭是社会补助金的受益者。问题是，这种对服务和社会援助的投资能否转化为公民更高的福祉。有人认为，老年人在生活环境中经历的积极变化可以作为社会进步的试金石。这篇论文报告了2009年进行的一项抽样调查的结果，该调查调查了两个省份的1000个老年低收入家庭的生活状况和福祉，这些家庭与劳动力流动路线有关。老年家庭被定义为成员年龄在55岁及以上的家庭。样本是在三个大小大致相等的亚组中抽取的：东开普省前“家园”的农村黑人家庭，以及西开普省开普敦的黑人和有色人种家庭。是次调查的大部分住户曾在二二年年底进行的调查中接受访问。在2002年至2009年的6年期间，家庭状况发生了物质和非物质变化。获得住房和基础设施的机会有所改善，但财政困难和债务继续困扰着许多接受调查的家庭。在生活水平最低的三类老年家庭中，农村黑人家庭似乎是最糟糕的；有色人种家庭生活水平最高。城市黑人家庭，其中许多是开普敦的移民，在2002年至2009年期间，他们的物质环境似乎经历了最大的波动，幸运和不幸并存。结果表明，社会补助金提供了少量的经济安全和心灵上的安宁，对弱势家庭来说，这是命运与不幸之间的关键区别。在这项研究中，获得社会养老金和其他补助似乎是农村家庭获得好运的主要途径。开普敦的家庭除了补助收入外，还需要工资收入来维持生活。这种收入来源的混合稀释了城市家庭对社会救助的依赖。回归模型结果表明，收入和财务安全在促进低收入老年家庭福祉方面发挥的作用要比获得服务重要得多。收入集中是领取养老金家庭的一种普遍做法，对家庭满意度有显著贡献。
It is commonly assumed that better living standards will boost subjective well-being. The post-apartheid South African government subscribes to this idea; its social policies aim to provide ‘a better life for all’. Since the coming of democracy in 1994, the state has built over 3 million houses and supplied electricity and clean water to poor households. By 2009, an estimated 43 % of households were beneficiaries of social grants. The question is whether this investment in services and social assistance translates into higher well-being of citizens. It is argued that older people’s experience of positive change in their life circumstances can be taken as a litmus test of progress in society. The paper reports results of a sample survey conducted in 2009 that inquired into the living circumstances and well-being of 1,000 older low-income households in two provinces linked by a labour migration route. Older households were defined as ones with a member 55 years and older. The sample was drawn among three approximately equal-sized subgroups: Rural black households in the former ‘homelands’ of the Eastern Cape Province, and black and coloured households in Cape Town in the Western Cape Province. The majority of the households in the survey had been interviewed in an earlier survey conducted in late 2002. Both material and non-material changes had occurred in the household situation over the 6-year period between 2002 and 2009. Access to housing and infrastructure had improved but financial difficulties and debts continued to plague many of the surveyed households. Rural black households appeared to be worst off among the three categories of older households with the lowest level of living; coloured households best situated with the highest level of living. Urban black households, many of whom were immigrants to Cape Town, appeared to have experienced the greatest fluctuations in their material circumstances between 2002 and 2009 and a mix of fortune and misfortune. Results indicated that social grants, which provided a modicum of financial security and peace of mind, made the crucial difference between fortune and misfortune for vulnerable households. Securing a social pension and other grants appeared to be the main route to good fortune for the rural households in the study. Households in Cape Town required wage income in addition to grant income to get by in the city. This mix of income sources diluted urban households’ dependence on social assistance. Regression model results suggest that income and financial security play a significantly more important role in boosting the well-being of low-income older households than access to services. Pooling of income, a common practice in pensioner households, contributed significantly to household satisfaction.