Being poor is a humiliating experience, degrading dignity and self-worth. Although the forms and causes of poverty are different, it causes a common sense of shame. Recent research conducted by the University of Oxford found that from China to the UK, people experiencing economic hardship – even children – experience almost similar impairments in self-esteem and self-confidence.
In addition, shame, lack of self-confidence, and low self-esteem can negatively affect how people judge their ability to make changes, perpetuating perceptions of inadequacy that can debilitate and trap them in poverty. To help people escape poverty, human development strategies should consider ways to strengthen self-control, aspirations and self-confidence – that is, belief in one's own ability to influence events that affect one's life.
In the end, policy makers must realize that programs aimed at reducing poverty, if not implemented properly, can actually increase shame. For example, researchers working in India in 2005 found that Indian women stopped visiting health clinics to avoid degrading treatment from health workers – even though it was detrimental to their own health and that of their children. Women in South Africa who apply for child support are reported to have had the same experience, as did food bank users in the UK.
In fact, many respondents in the UK said that there was such a bad stigma about receiving free food that “fear” and “shame” were common emotions.
The issue of shame, and the need to take it seriously in poverty alleviation policies, is slowly gaining attention. Academics who research human suffering have recognized that “recipient dignity” is a critical component of successful poverty alleviation efforts.
For example, a 2016 review of cash transfer programs in Africa found that the absence of pressure and shame increases recipients' self-confidence, resulting in improved decision-making and productivity. On the basis of this evidence, the University of Oxford extended the research to the “shame-poverty relationship” to study how the international development sector can eliminate shame in poverty reduction policies.
Programs aimed at reducing poverty are moving in the right direction, but much remains to be done to integrate the psychosocial component of poverty into policy and planning.
Only when policy makers truly understand that dignity and self-respect are prerequisites in the struggle against poverty – rather than the outcome of poverty alleviation – will the world have the opportunity to eradicate all forms of poverty.