Poverty Reduction Strategy in Urban Jamaica
Anne Galvin, St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Abstract:
This research examines neoliberal policy reform geared toward the privatization of social welfare in Jamaica and the impact it has had on residents of a Kingston ghetto community. Grassroots community development initiatives have sought to provide youth labeled “at risk” with education and training aimed at instilling self discipline and teaching the job skills requisite for them to take part in mainstream employment. However, Jamaica’s weak global economic position has meant that the creation of a trained labor pool has outpaced national economic growth. New training programs are continually initiated regardless of the economy’s capacity to absorb workers. Community residents are left in a familiar bind. They are labeled “idlers” who want to “get rich quick” and who would rather instigate crime and violence than find gainful employment. However, given the lack of job opportunity paired with shrinking social welfare safety nets, they are left with few choices. In order to participate in the life of the neighborhood, and meet day-to-day survival needs, residents are driven to take part in local informal power structures connected to illicit activities. Simultaneously, they engage in community education programs, which attempt to discipline the “unruly” space of the ghetto in order to better attract foreign investment and incorporate the marginalized population into Jamaica’s nation building agenda. I argue that these community development initiatives allow residents to gain short term benefits from both the nation building efforts and illicit community activities, without setting in motion significant long term personal, community, or national, “development.”