http://jmk.sagepub.com/ Journal of Macromarketing http://jmk.sagepub.com/content/34/1/8 The online version of this article can be found at: DOI: 10.1177/0276146713499351 2014 34: 8 originally published online 26 August 2013 Journal of Macromarketing Madhu Viswanathan, Kiju Jung, Srinivas Venugopal, Ishva Minefee and In Woo Jung Consumption, Conservation, and the Environment Subsistence and Sustainability: From Micro-Level Behavioral Insights to Macro-Level Implications on Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com On behalf of: Macromarketing Society can be found at: Journal of Macromarketing Additional services and information for http://jmk.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Email Alerts: http://jmk.sagepub.com/subscriptions Subscriptions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Permissions: http://jmk.sagepub.com/content/34/1/8.refs.html Citations: What is This? - Aug 26, 2013 OnlineFirst Version of Record - Feb 9, 2014 Version of Record >> at UNIV FEDERAL DA PARAIBA on August 17, 2014 jmk.sagepub.com Downloaded from at UNIV FEDERAL DA PARAIBA on August 17, 2014 jmk.sagepub.com Downloaded from
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http://jmk.sagepub.com/Journal of Macromarketing
http://jmk.sagepub.com/content/34/1/8The online version of this article can be found at:
DOI: 10.1177/0276146713499351
2014 34: 8 originally published online 26 August 2013Journal of MacromarketingMadhu Viswanathan, Kiju Jung, Srinivas Venugopal, Ishva Minefee and In Woo Jung
Consumption, Conservation, and the EnvironmentSubsistence and Sustainability: From Micro-Level Behavioral Insights to Macro-Level Implications on
Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com
On behalf of:
Macromarketing Society
can be found at:Journal of MacromarketingAdditional services and information for
at UNIV FEDERAL DA PARAIBA on August 17, 2014jmk.sagepub.comDownloaded from at UNIV FEDERAL DA PARAIBA on August 17, 2014jmk.sagepub.comDownloaded from
Subsistence and Sustainability: FromMicro-Level Behavioral Insights toMacro-Level Implications on Consumption,Conservation, and the Environment
Madhu Viswanathan1, Kiju Jung1, Srinivas Venugopal1,Ishva Minefee1, and In Woo Jung1
AbstractThe objective of this article is to develop micro-level behavioral insights at the intersection of poverty and the environment andderive macro-marketing implications. This micro-level behavioral perspective encompasses psychological and socio-culturalphenomena and emphasizes consumption and conservation. Construing the environment in a broad sense to encompass livingcircumstances, we conducted interviews to uncover the distinctive nature of environmental issues in subsistence marketplaces. Ourfindings emphasize the importance of different levels of spatial and psychological distance as well as a number of coping strategies thatreflect individuals and communities sustaining themselves through survival, relatedness, and growth. We link distances and coping toefficacy and motivation to act, and derive implications for macro-level issues in marketing management, and public policy.
Journal of Macromarketing2014, Vol. 34(1) 8-27ª The Author(s) 2013Reprints and permission:sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.navDOI: 10.1177/0276146713499351jmk.sagepub.com
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interviews using broad topics and questions without specific
guidance from substantive aspects of relevant literature. Where
relevant, the insights that emerged are placed in the context of
the extant literature. Discussion in terms of specific theory was
the final step through the discovery process of writing the paper.
The data were collected in an urban low-income community
in Chennai, South India and a rural farming community in Kan-
chipuram district, South India. Chennai is the sixth most popu-
lous city in India with a population of around 4.7 million.
Chennai also has the fourth highest population of slum dwellers
in India, estimated at 820,000. Kanchipuram district is largely
agrarian with close to half its population engaged in agricul-
ture. Paddy rice and groundnuts are the major crops cultivated
in this region. Tamil is the native language in both Chennai and
Kanchipuram district. The urban data and rural data were col-
lected in two phases of research, each lasting from a few weeks
to a few months.
In-depth interviews were employed for gathering data, as
they are suitable for obtaining detailed accounts of the infor-
mant’s perspectives, experiences, or situation, in their own
voices (Taylor and Bogdan 1998). In-depth interviews are also
suitable because of the low-literacy levels of our informants
and the prevailing oral traditions in the local context (Viswa-
nathan et al. 2012). Interviews began at a concrete level in
terms of problems people face with their immediate environ-
ment, how their local environment affects them, and how they
affect their own local environment, and then moved to broader
issues of how individuals affect nature and in turn are affected
by nature. Terms such as global warming and climate change
were reserved for the end of the interview, given their abstract
nature and the need to discern participants’ perceptions in an
open-ended way. Interviews were conducted with 14 infor-
mants (ten urban, four rural). We employed purposive sam-
pling in choosing rural and urban respondents in order to
capture the differences in experiences between the urban and
rural poor. The informants were in the age group of 35-48 years
and their literacy levels ranged from 5th grade to bachelor’s
degree. Sample informants included eight males and six
females. Detailed informant information is presented in
Table 1. The interviews lasted for half an hour to forty-five
minutes. At the end of each interview, informants were given
a small monetary compensation for their time. The first author
and research associates who speak the local language and are
from the same cultural context conducted the urban interviews.
The third author who is a native speaker of Tamil (local lan-
guage) conducted the rural interviews. The interviews were
recorded, transcribed into Tamil and then translated. Member
checks were used during data collection to ensure factual con-
sistencies and interpretations.
The interviews were conducted specifically to examine the
issue of sustainability in subsistence contexts. The urban inter-
views were conducted in the first phase of data collection for
the project. Rural interviews were conducted as part of the sec-
ond phase in order to capture the commonalities and differ-
ences across rural and urban subsistence contexts. Amato and
Zuo (1992) note that the subjective experience of poverty as
well as the stress associated with it are likely to be different for
rural and urban poor. They observe that factors such as social
support, kinship networks, and institutional membership are
key differences across these contexts. Our motivation to
include rural informants stems from the objective of investigat-
ing the issue of sustainability across these contextual differ-
ences between urban and rural poor, given such factors as the
different natural environments that they live in.
We analyzed the data independently using the constant com-
parative method, which involves researchers simultaneously
coding and analyzing data across interviews to develop concepts
and relationships with the eventual goal of evolving coherent
theoretical propositions (Taylor and Bogdan 1998). The authors
used the descriptive data to develop concepts. The concepts were
then used as sensitizing material to eventually develop coherent
theoretical propositions (Blumer 1969). Two of the authors are
originally from the cultural context of the research sites whereas
the remaining three are outsiders. These variations in the back-
ground of authors enabled us to analyze and interpret data from
different vantage points and arrive at a consensus (Thomas et al.
Table 1. Demographic Information of Informants.
No.Name(fictitious)
Urban/Rural Gender
Age(yrs.) Education
1 Anbazhagan Urban Male NA 10th grade2 Anand Rural Male 40 5th grade3 Bhuvaneswari Urban Female NA NA4 Chiranjeevi Urban Male 35 12th grade5 Damodaran Rural Male 38 10th grade6 Narasimhan Urban Male 37 10th grade7 Nandini Urban Female 41 10th grade8 Pankajam Urban Female NA 9th grade9 Selvi Urban Female 39 9th grade10 Suseela Urban Female 48 9th grade11 Sharada Urban Female NA NA12 Sanjeevan Rural Male NA 9th grade13 Venkatesan Urban Male 37 Bachelor of Arts14 Selvarasan Rural Male NA Bachelor of Arts
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Table 2. Challenges of Distance in Subsistence Marketplaces.
QuoteNumber Spatial Distance Illustrative Quotes
1 Immediate and Near ‘‘Currently, the water is a problem (due to rain), the supply is mixed (contaminated), and the water isthe main source to spread the diseases. The water from drainages is mixed with drinking watersupply, so it is contaminated.’’ – Chiranjeevi, 35, Male, Urban
2 Immediate and Near ‘‘Our neighborhood is located nearby the sewerage water treatment plant established by thegovernment. They let out the treated water on the canal running behind our street. The canal alsocarries the wastewater let out from the families living in upper areas. The canal watercontaminates the ground water in our areas. I doubt the quality of available water too. One day Inotice foul smell from the water and the other day it seems to be good. I cannot assure that we getclean or good water always. – Selvi, 39, Female, Urban
3 Immediate and Near ‘‘ . . . Nobody is disposing the garbage properly. It is spread everywhere. The air passes through thegarbage, bringing the bad effects and foul smell. It is inhaled by everyone, from children to adults.Then . . . the smoking of cigarettes . . . the smokers smoke the cigarettes in public places, which affecteveryone.’’ – Nandini, 41, Female, Urban
4 Immediate and Near ‘‘Even today I saw a plastic bag containing garbage thrown on the street by someone. My ownprinciple is not to use plastic. I used to go with a cloth bag while shopping. I used to advise othersnot to use plastic. But nobody listens . . . They pack their domestic waste and garbage in a plasticbag and simply throw it on the corner of the street while they go to work or shopping. People aretoo lazy to use a broom and a box to keep separate the biodegradable and plastic materials. Eventhe people going to work (educated) come out of their house, keeping their handbag in one handand a plastic bag filled with garbage in the other hand. They never bothered about the dustbins;they simply throw the garbage on the corner of the street . . . due to plastic covers, the heat isincreased; it blocks the water flow also.’’ – Sharada, Female, Urban
5 Immediate and Near ‘‘There is no proper storage there also, suppose there is a rain and the paddy gets wet, there will be nohope of selling it. They will say the paddy is wet and askus to take it back.’’ – Damodaran, 38, Male, Rural
6 Immediate and Near ‘‘We cannot compare farming with business, because, we put our faith in the land – ‘bhoomi’ (earth)– asking it to take care of us and we take care of it equally like our child.’’ – Anand, 40, Male, Rural
7 Moderate and Far ‘‘We should not destroy the forests that are beneficial to humans. It will lead to lack of air, failure of rain,and destruction of nature. When the forest goes, even the plants and small trees will disappearautomatically. Awareness should be created to join hands in protecting the forest. We should protectnature.’’ – Anbazhagan, Male, Urban
8 Moderate and Far ‘‘We grow ground nuts also, but at present it is not growing well so, we feel frustrated when we thinkof groundnuts. That is the easiest to grow, but because of the unseasonal rains and the change inclimatic patterns, we are not able to make profits with that, even those who sowed now facedheavy loss.’’ – Anand, 40, Male, Rural
9 Moderate and Far ‘‘Unnecessary buildings, they are mushrooming everywhere. In the past, the houses were made withthatches and used palm leaves or coconut leaves. We didn’t find that much pollution when wewere living in such houses, because those leaves or thatches controlled and filtered whatever dustpassed through air. Now, we aren’t safe because of the present types of buildings. Suppose wereside in a flat where someone came and murdered us, no one would notice us or come forwardto rescue us. The structure is not conducive to alert the neighbors. They can’t hear what ishappening in the nearby house.’’ – Nandini, 41, Female, Urban
10 Moderate and Far ‘‘Nowadays more flat systems [apartments] are flourishing and available than individual houses . . .there was attachment in the joint family system. We cannot expect such socialization and attachmentamong the families living in a flat system, whereas we can expect a kind of homogeneity among thefamilies living in individual houses on a street. Families living in a flat [apartment] system will not botherabout their neighbors.’’ – Bhuvaneswari, Female, Urban
11 Moderate and Far ‘‘Irrespective of the people or organization, whether it is a company or government or serviceorganization or politicians, they take care of the hygiene in their own rooms and drinking water fortheir needs. They should give preference in providing clean water to the public. They use the officialmachinery to keep their compound and nearby areas free from sanitation problems. They wouldn’tbother about the end of their own street or next street where the public reside . . . nobodyunderstands that pollution would affect everyone. The air coming out from A/C machines, aircoolers, electric cookers, microwave ovens, etc. are poisonous . . . ’’ – Nandini, 41, Female, Urban
12 Moderate and Far ‘‘Earlier there were forests, but now all that has been encroached and it has been brought undercultivation, and the way people work has also changed. Those days, they used to take the effort to mixthe vegetation by stamping with the feet with the dung and prepare the manure and only then, theyused to start the farming. But now people don’t even want to remove their shirts. Nowadays, thewhole context has changed, nobody wants to work, everybody wants more money very quickly, andpeople want to become rich fast.’’ – Anand, 40, Male, Rural
(continued)
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2000). In reporting the findings, we use tables with verbatim
quotes organized by topic and further subcategorized by themes.
We also present some illustrative quotes in the body of the
manuscript. For a more exhaustive list of informant quotes, we
refer the reader to Tables 2, 3 and 4 where all the relevant quotes
are organized and presented by themes.
Challenges and Coping in Subsistence Marketplaces
We categorized the environmental challenges that our infor-
mants faced as being at immediate (household), near (local),
moderate (societal), or far (global) distances for those living
in subsistence, and the discussion unfolds accordingly
(Table 2). The environment in the immediate distance is the
informant’s own home and surroundings where most time is
typically spent. The near refers to the local environment in terms
of issues, such as sewage, air and water, outside the home, in the
streets, and in the community. The moderate distance represents
the larger society, such as cities, sets of villages, a province or
the country. The farthest distant environment represents tradi-
tional global environmental issues in other settings, such as
climate change and global warming. We present relevant pic-
tures of our research sites to provide a rich visual description
of the context (see Figure 1).
Challenges – Immediate and Near. In subsistence marketplaces,
environmental issues are not at some level of abstraction
wherein people can compartmentalize them, but rather hit
home at a local level. Local conditions contaminate water sup-
ply to households in the immediate distance (Quotes 1 and 2,
Table 2) (see Figure 1). If people use and dispose plastic bags,
sewages get blocked and diseases spread (Quotes 3 and 4,
Table 2).
Even today I saw a plastic bag containing garbage thrown on
the street by someone. My own principle is not to use plastic.
I used to go with a cloth bag while shopping. I used to advise
others not to use plastic. But nobody listens . . . They pack their
domestic waste and garbage in a plastic bag and simply throw it
on the corner of the street while they go to work or shopping.
People are too lazy to use a broom and a box to keep separate
the biodegradable and plastic materials. Even the people going
to work (educated) come out of their house, keeping their hand-
bag in one hand and a plastic bag filled with garbage in the
other hand. They never bothered about the dustbins; they sim-
ply throw the garbage on the corner of the street . . . due to plas-
tic covers, the heat is increased; it blocks the water flow also.
(Sharada, Female, Urban)
Environmental issues are not distant, but a day-to-day real-
ity. Quote 3 (Table 2) illustrates neighborhood practices at the
near/local distance and how they affect survival, and quality of
life at an immediate distance (i.e., in one’s own household),
workplace or nearby. A participant relates how plastic usage
affects the immediate environment (see Figure 1). The impact
is immediate in time and space (Quote 4, Table 2). Even distant
environmental factors such as weather conditions and rainfall
have a proximal impact to lives and livelihoods as illustrated
by Quote 5 (Table 2). Similarly, heavy rains have a dispropor-
tionately negative impact on poor urban neighborhoods due to
bad roads, and poor drainage and sanitation that have immedi-
ate economic implications.
Table 2. (continued)
QuoteNumber Spatial Distance Illustrative Quotes
13 Moderate and Far ‘‘There is no truth. Truth is not prevailing in the society. Mother has no sincere affection for her child,children has no affection for their parents. It becomes like mechanical life, all become like machines. . . the reason is over-expectations. People try to cheat when they have too high expectations. Forexample, those who are riding bicycles wish to acquire motorbikes, those who have bikes wish to gettheir own car, those who have their own car wish to buy their own bungalow. Real affection is dilutedwhile the level of expectations increases.’’ – Nandini, 41, Female, Urban
14 Moderate and Far ‘‘The nature has changed. There is change in the season. Ancestors classified the seasons in a yearinto four – winter, summer, etc. There is a proverb that says ‘‘Even the grinding stone will bemoved by the winds/storm coming in the month of [16 July-15 August]’’ . . . But, we can’t noticethe wind at all in this month.’’ – Nandini, 41, Female, Urban
15 Moderate and Far ‘‘I have heard that the hole in the ozone layer caused global warming. I believe that the pollution andhigh smoke is the reason for the hole in the ozone layer. Erecting deep bore wells in too muchdepth and sucking enormous water is also one of the reasons for the earth warming. Now thenumber of trees and plants become less. More forests and more trees will give rain. There is apossibility for the earth to get cool if it receives more rain due to forestation.’’ – Bhuvaneswari,Female, Urban
16 Moderate and Far ‘‘All the smoke and pollution is the reason for climate changes. Also the overuse of electricity is oneof the reasons for climate changes. It is good for each person to reduce their consumption ofelectricity by their level best. We should avoid burning more lights for more hours. Everyoneshould try to plant and grow trees as much as possible. Government and society should help us toachieve this through awareness.’’ – Bhuvaneswari, Female, Urban
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Table 3. Coping Strategies in Subsistence Marketplaces.
QuoteNumber Strategies Illustrative Quotes
17 Control at ImmediateDistance
‘‘I stopped the use of plastic items. I collect the garbage from my house and dispose of it at the dustbinerected by the corporation. I use the brinjal, tomato, and chili seeds, which otherwise would becomewaste while preparing the vegetables for the preparation of food, to spread at the corner and sidefloor of the wall at my house. Sometimes the seeds yield more . . . I try my level best to walk to theplaces where I want to go and avoid using vehicles.’’ – Bhuvaneswari, Female, Urban
18 Control at ImmediateDistance
‘‘My own practice to prevent the pollution in the house is . . . I would choose the light color or whitecolor cloth to stitch window curtains. I always use a variety of cloth containing micro holes to filter thedust from the air. The minute holes in the curtain cloth will enable free flow of air as well as filter thedust. You look at the cloth after three or four days and find layers of dust.’’ – Nandini, 41, Female,Urban
19 Making ‘‘We would collect the waste cloths from the tailor shop and make pillow covers and mats. We useto make cloth bags from the old pants.’’ – Selvi, 39, Female, Urban
20 Foregoing ‘‘We cannot buy dresses all the time or whenever we wish to do so. We can buy new dress only forfestivals and during any important family functions. . . . depending on the income we budget fordresses. We will buy dresses only for children, if our income is not sufficient. Because, their happinessis central for us, as adult can understand the situation and compromise.’’ – Pankajam, Female, Urban
21 Cross-Using/Making ‘‘We have coconut trees in our compound. We make broomsticks from the coconut leaves grownfrom our trees.’’ – Selvi, 39, Female, Urban
22 Cross-Using ‘‘Cow we use for milk, for getting manure for the farm. The cow dung we take to the farm and makeit as manure. The milk we use and apart from that we also sell at the society. Apart from what weneed for use if we sell at the society once in ten days, they make the payment which is also useful. . . the main reason is that we get manure from the dung for the farm and apart from the milk usedat the house we sell it at the society and make a little extra money for house hold expenses.’’ –Sanjeevan, Male, Rural
23 Reducing ‘‘If you take the food for example, we can have non-vegetarian food even for four days a week. But,we restrict it to have only one day a week to save money. I try to reduce my own expenses such asfuel and travel cost. Earlier, I used a two-wheeler or hired an auto to attend all my tasks.’’ –Venkatesan, 37, Male, Urban
24 Reusing ‘‘I wouldn’t hesitate to use the old saree that was used by my sister . . . I would use the clothes ordresses very gently so they would last for years.’’ – Selvi, 39, Female, Urban
25 Reusing ‘‘We wouldn’t waste even the water used to wash and clean the rice before cooking. We will keepthis rice-washed water for some time for dilution. We will remove the sluggish and precipitatedcontents and use the diluted water for the preparation of gravy and side dishes. We will use theremaining waste water for other purposes such as watering the plants, etc.’’ – Selvi, 39, Female,Urban
26 Reusing/Cross-using ‘‘We wouldn’t waste any materials. For example, we had a damaged and rusted iron cot. When wetried to dispose of it, we were offered only Rs.50/- as the cost of old iron. So, we converted it as alid for the water tank and saved money. It protects the tank water from contamination throughdust forming or birds’ excreta.’’ – Selvi, 39, Female, Urban
27 Harvesting ‘‘I have made arrangements to ensure that the rainwater that fell on the roof enters the well througherected pipes. I wouldn’t allow the rainwater to be wasted. When we have continuous rain we collectthe rainwater and use it for domestic purposes.’’ – Selvi, 39, Female, Urban
28 Relating to theEnvironment
‘‘We would do these ourselves without hiring any external labor, whether it is cleaning of oursewage system or renovating the well. We get fresh air around our house as we grow all theseplants and trees. We can make simple dishes from these vegetables and herbal plants.’’ – Selvi, 39,Female, Urban
29 Relating to theEnvironment
‘‘Burning soap covers along with neem leaves will chase the mosquitoes. We use the waste covers fromthe soap we used and collect a few dry leaves, including neem leaves, from the tree near the house toburn and chase out the mosquitoes in the late evening.’’ – Bhuvaneswari, Female, Urban
30 Relating to theEnvironment
‘‘We should try to keep our environment clean and protect our family members from diseases. Itwould help us to reduce the medical expenses . . . as an individual, we can’t do anything to controlor contain the air pollution. The number of vehicles is increasing day by day; controlling this is notin my hands. We can grow plants and creepers, if we have a little space. We can prevent thebreeding of mosquitoes which is a major hazardous in the city if we avoid the stagnation of wateraround our living places.’’ – Venkatesan, 37, Male, Urban
31 Collective Action ‘‘We can collect water from the well for domestic use. If we face any water scarcity, we will report itto the ruling party man. They will approach the authorities and arrange the potable water throughwater tankers. It will be stored in a common potable tank and shared by our neighbors.’’ – Selvi,39, Female, Urban
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32 Survival ‘‘Currently, the water is a problem (due to rain), the supply is mixed (contaminated), and the water is the mainsource to spread the diseases. The water from drainages is mixed with drinking water supply, so it iscontaminated.’’ – Chiranjeevi, 35, Male, Urban
33 Survival ‘‘There is no proper storage there also; suppose there is a rain and the paddy gets wet there will be no hope ofselling it, they will say the paddy is wet and ask us to take it back.’’ – Damodaran, 38, Male, Rural l
34 Relatedness ‘‘For example when we start farming we need to take care of the cows, they need straw. If we grow groundnuts then the plants can be used as fodder for the cattle and the goats, so we consider that at least for thesake of the cattle we have grown this crop.’’ – Selvarasan, Male, Rural
35 Relatedness ‘‘Suppose we are spending the capital from our money alone then we can wait till we get a good rate for theproduce and then sell it. But suppose we have borrowed from others and used it then we cannot afford towait. So rather than wait for the three or four months and get that five rupees extra we just sell it as soonas we get the harvest and settle the loans.’’ – Selvarasan, Male, Rural
36 Relatedness ‘‘Yes, some people do like that also, they note how the neighbor grows a crop and if it was good they follow thatmethod themselves. In this season the conditions for growth will be common, and the neighbor can behelpful, mainly the pest control will be uniform and better, so they discuss and do it.’’ – Sanjeevan, Male, Rural
37 Relatedness ‘‘I will get the money from my friend and return it when I get my money, sometimes take money fromsomeone who can give and the rest we manage our own funds. Even now we spent 15000 for the crop, Ihave borrowed ten thousand from my friend and I will return it to him in about 2 or three months, that ishow we manage.’’ – Sanjeevan, Male, Rural
38 Growth ‘‘Yes, the main reason is that we get manure from the dung for the farm and apart from the milk used at thehouse we sell it at the society and make a little extra money for house hold expenses.’’ – Selvarasan, Male,Rural
39 Growth ‘‘As far as education is concerned, the government is doing well and encourages female children to continuetheir education through providing education materials including free bicycle to travel to school. We shouldprepare our next generation with awareness on the importance of education, clean air, etc. to managetheir future.’’ – Bhuvaneswari, Female, Urban
40 Growth ‘‘In the village . . . there are computers and they want to do that, there are cell phones and many things likethat. Even though there is a shortage of labor in farming and increase in the cost of labor, most of thechildren prefer studies’’ – Sanjeevan, Male, Rural
41 Growth ‘‘My children are studying in 4th std. Computers is one of their subject. They used to operate the computer aspart of their subject. If they feel that they need computer, I would consider the purchase of computer forthem. Neither have I learnt about computers nor had opportunities to operate. But, I shouldn’t allow mychildren to face lack of computer knowledge or opportunity. I would always consider my children’s needs,they are my priority.’’ – Narasimhan, 37, Male, Urban
42 Survival andGrowth
‘‘If every parent provides education to their children and has a little savings for the next generation, they canmanage the future. Education is the basic need for the survival of all. If they get good education, they can getjobs and earn enough to meet their needs.’’ – Suseela, 48, Female, Urban
43 Survival andGrowth
‘‘ . . . It is better to go as a wage laborer. But if everyone decides to go as a wage laborer there will be no oneleft to pay for the sowing. For example when we start farming we need to take care of the cows, they needstraw, if we grow ground nuts then the plants can be used as fodder for the cattle and the goats, so weconsider that at least for the sake of the cattle we have grown this crop.’’ – Sanjeevan, Male, Rural
44 Survival andGrowth
‘‘I try to provide a good education and healthy food for our children. I dispose of the garbage carefully andmaintain cleanliness. I try to practice with my children to walk instead of depending on vehicles. I encouragethem to exercise to maintain their physical health. I stopped the use of plastic items. I collect the garbage frommy house and dispose of it at the dustbin erected by the corporation.’’ – Bhuvaneswari, Female, Urban
45 Survival andGrowth
‘‘Society should enable its children to learn good habits and practices. Society should ensure that its childrengrow healthy and are protected from diseases and are provided with good education. They should betaught the importance of protecting their environment. Society should encourage the younger generationto grow with a social consciousness and plant trees, etc.’’ – Bhuvaneswari, Female, Urban
46 Survival andRelatedness
‘‘Society is helpful to provide employment, if we approach the society and seek employment opportunity aftersharing our family problems, they will give priority to us among the ten or fifteen already searching job. Wesurvive because of the cooperation from the society.’’ – Pankajam, Female, Urban
47 Relatedness andGrowth
‘‘There is no truth; truth is not prevailing in the society. Mother has no sincere affection for her child, childrenhas no affection for their parents. It becomes like mechanical life, all become like machines . . . the reason isover-expectations. People try to cheat when they have too high of expectations. For example, those whoare riding bicycles wish to acquire motorbikes, those who have bikes wish to get their own car, those whohave their own car wish to buy their own bungalow. Real affection is diluted while the level of expectationsincreases.’’ – Nandini, 41, Female, Urban
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