Poor people's money during times of uncertainty: Uses, meanings and negotiation of monetary aid measures in the pandemic context

Abstract

This study sought to explore the uses meanings and negotiation that female heads of household from low-income areas gave to the transferred money in the COVID health emergency period. Our specific interest is in the withdrawal of 10% of pension funds and the Emergency Family Income (IFE) due to the monetary relevance of both programs. Based on a 10th-month follow-up of 14 female heads of household from low-income areas of Santiago, Chile, this qualitative study examines how the participating women “mark,” in Zelizer's sense, the money they received. Thus, we seek to account for how, based on the source of money, its forms of access and the amounts received, women determine how to use it and assign meaning to its value.