Social Decline and Consumption Emotional and Behavioural Coping Strategies of Members of the Middle Class in Cases of Financial Loss

摘要

This study pursues an as yet understudied question which is gaining academic as well as societal relevance due to the increasing pre-cariousness of income- and family-biogra-phies: What are the individual effects of dec-reasing financial resources and how do indivi-duals cope with them? Drawing on insights from poverty studies and consumer behavi-our research, this study adopts the empirtcal, problem-oriented approach of interviewing af-fected individuals. This method sheds light on emotional and problem-oriented coping reac-tions and allows identifying strategies of alternative need satisfaction. The results are then contextualised, interpreted and discussed against the background of theoretical approa-ches from neighbouring disciplines.