Subsistence strategies in the context of poverty. Perspectives and conceptual intersectionsy

Abstract

This article develops a theoretical-conceptual reflection on subsistence strategies in contexts of poverty, understood as complex practices that households and families deploy to cope with material and social precariousness derived from recurrent crises, macrostructural transformations, and the reduction of state protection policies. Based on a critical and comparative review of specialized literature produced between 1970 and 2020, with particular emphasis on Latin America, the study identifies convergences, divergences, and conceptual tensions surrounding core categories such as domestic organization of work, monetary and non-monetary income, self-productive activities, social assistance, and support networks, the latter regarded as informal security systems operating through reciprocity and social capital. The findings reveal that subsistence strategies transcend the economic sphere, incorporating social and cultural dimensions that shape lifestyles and condition processes of everyday reproduction. Likewise, the analysis highlights the importance of intra-household role redistribution, diversification of income sources, and reliance on community resources as adaptive responses to vulnerability. The discussion emphasizes the tension between reproductive practices, oriented toward sustaining routines and established structures, and transformative practices, which allow for change and innovation in adverse scenarios, thereby situating the debate in the relationship between structural determinism and agency. The article concludes that subsistence strategies constitute a dynamic and multidimensional phenomenon whose understanding requires an intersectional and contextualized approach, essential for designing public policies that strengthen resilience, promote autonomy, and foster social inclusion.