Persistent Poverty in the Netherlands

This dissertation investigates how individuals living in long-term poverty in Dutch cities navigate structural constraints, welfare bureaucracies, and stigmatized neighbourhoods. Drawing on relational sociology and Bourdieu’s field theory, the study conceptualises poverty not merely as a lack of resources but as a multidi-mensional condition shaped by moral judgements, institutional rules, and unequal access to social, cultural, and economic capital.Through extensive ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviews in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, the research examines how people develop survival strategies within and across formal and informal spheres, including welfare systems, underground economies, and social networks. It introduces the concept of "capital conversion strategies" to show how individuals attempt to regain autonomy and recognition by transforming one form of capital into another—often with mixed success.The analysis reveals how symbolic violence, territorial stigma, and moral boundary work reproduce exclusion, while also highlighting moments of agency, resilience, and contestation. By integrating empirical case studies with relational theory, this dissertation offers a methodological and conceptual foundation for studying poverty as a dynamic and field-structured social condition. It contributes to international debates on structure–agency relations, welfare governance, and the moral economy of survival under constraint.