The Case-studies: Individual Strategies

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the economic experiences of individual elderly villeros, which complement the macro and community-level perspectives given in the two preceding chapters. Its findings are largely based on two sources of data, a household questionnaire survey and a number of longer, semistructured interviews. The chapter begins with an explanation of the methodology. The data are then presented and analysed. This analysis includes comparisons between the different neighbourhoods studied and according to a range of other criteria such as gender and previous employment. It looks at different sources of income in isolation, before examining them as a whole. A central concern is to demonstrate the complexity of potential income maintenance strategies pursued by elderly villeros. These strategies are located in a broader context of economic marginality and barriers to state protection. As such, they reflect the multiple constraints facing poor urban elderly rather more than the opportunities open to them.