Community work and citizen activism as a response to the crisis in Spain: gender, poverty and social exclusion

Abstract

[eng] Crisis in Spain since 2008 has revealed the economic system's hidden face as well as weaknesses in welfare policies. In absence of responses from public authorities, some members of the Spanish citizenry have organised to seek survival formulas to stave off social exclusion. By taking into account gender differences, this article addresses roles played by reciprocity networks. Also how solidarity, resilience, and participatory democracy help people to get their prominence back. Using a qualitative methodology, we analysed data collected from 20 in-depth interviews (conducted between 2015 and 2018). Informants were representatives of several Spanish citizen organisations (including Andalusia, Catalonia, Balearic Islands, Madrid, Navarra, and Basque Country), the areas of study for our research project. We are able to demonstrate these organisations' efficacy for providing people with opportunities for mutual support, and solidarity, through self-organisation. In fact, the referred organisations have become spaces for accompaniment, emotional support, and personal and collective empowerment. Ultimately, participation through community networks is helping to reverse social exclusion, and the injustice that it reflects. Nevertheless, we have also observed how invisible female leadership remains in this context; a real challenge for the field of Social Work as a whole.