The Poor’s Wealth:The Case of Istanbul’s Suburbs in Turkey

What constitutes the wealth of the poor and how is it accumulated? The objective of this paper is to appraise the assets that the poor might have in the specific context of Turkey where the official statistics might underestimate them. This question is of crucial importance because of its contrast with the accumulation of wealth that occurred following the financialization of the economy in this country and market-oriented policies. Based on interviews with minimum wage earners about the wealth of their households we identified major categories of wealth prevalent among low-income groups that might have been invisible to the official statistical radars and how they are accumulated. Our sample of low-income groups and their wealth means having a house, a car and ability to pay for the schooling of older children. Our results indicate that lower-income groups accumulated wealth mainly by debt which makes them vulnerable to any financial crises and negatively influences their living conditions. Furthermore, we argue that accumulating wealth through debt reproduces social inequality and high interest debt of many low-income families leads to wealth (dis)accumulation since they own less of their material wealth.