Challenging the Family: The New Urban Poverty in Southern Europe

Challenging the Family: The New Urban Poverty in Southern Europe The chapter is divided in two parts. In the first part the Southern European regimes of poverty will be described, highlighting the specificity of the Italian model of poverty. In particular, three characteristics are taken into account: a) the family nature of poverty (which results into a high proportion of poor children), c) the absence of urban ghettos; c) the role of the informal social networks. The second part focuses on the case of Naples as the epicentre of Italian poverty. It shows how segmented labour markets, locally fragmented assistance schemes, and unsupported family responsabilities produce high level of poverty in absence of social exclusion and “disaffiliation” processes.