This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Google Scholar Articles by Shin, H. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

A New Insight into Urban Poverty: The Culture of Capability Poverty amongst Korean Immigrant Women in Los Angeles

Bartlett School of Planning, University College London, 22 Gordon Street, London, WC1H 0QB, UK, h.shin{at}ucl.ac.uk

This study analyses 'the culture of capability poverty' of 42 Korean immigrant women who live in Los Angeles to uncover the systemic road to gendered urban poverty. Through in-depth interviews, this research observes the interaction between sub-culture and capability in the subject's career domain, reinterpreting Lewis' culture of poverty thesis within Sen's capability approach. The subjects have developed their culture of capability poverty within that domain—such as low aspiration and heavy reliance on their Christianity—as a response to career-decision constraints including a strong woman's image, their childhood education and job market inequality. This paper concludes that, while their sub-culture is a positive life-strategy mechanism for dealing with their gender situation, it ultimately becomes lack of capability, poverty itself.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?