Recycling Identities: A Narrative Inquiry on Consumer Decision Making Among Urban Poor Families in the Philippines

• Main Authors: Tiu, Earl Justin Y, Tamayo, Faustene S, So, John Paolo L, Canoy, Nico A
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2018
• Subjects: Child Psychology; Psychology
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/psychology-faculty-pubs/141; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10720537.2018.1499570
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

The purpose of this article is to explore consumption-related decisions of urban poor families. Using a combination of in-depth interviews and visual narrative exercise, stories of six urban poor families living in Payatas, Quezon City, were analyzed. Key findings show that consumption-related decisions of participants follow a double cyclic narrative of just right spending. Community shared practices enable participants to survive by managing tensions between making ends meet and sustaining a public ideal of living a simple life. The researchers provide reflections on the socio-economic reproduction of a public ideal and rethinking the role of psychology in poverty reduction policies.