Combating poverty in the dilemma of social assistance and employment: The case of Diyarbakır

This doctoral dissertation investigates the impact of central government social assistance policies on employment within the context of Diyarbakır, Turkey. The study explores the multidimensional relationship between social assistance and employment, focusing on how welfare benefits influence individuals' economic participation, social inclusion, and capacity to escape poverty. Concepts such as welfare dependency, poverty trap, informal employment, and work motivation are analyzed through the theoretical lenses of the welfare state, capability approach, and social work discipline. The research adopts a mixed-methods design, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitative data were collected from 505 beneficiaries of social assistance using the Social Assistance Dependency Scale and the Social Assistance–Employment Relationship Questionnaire. Qualitative data were obtained through 32 semi-structured interviews 16 with social assistance recipients and 16 with implementers, including district governors, social workers, inspectors, and institutional directors. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS 26, while qualitative data were coded and interpreted through MAXQDA. Quantitative findings indicate that the level of welfare dependency is high (x = 3.41), with the dependency effect being more pronounced among older adults, individuals with disabilities, women, and those with lower educational attainment. The results further reveal that the perception of laziness stems not from a lack of individual motivation but from structural and systemic deficiencies. The impact of social assistance on employment motivation was found to be limited. Qualitative findings reveal that while social assistance alleviates poverty in the short term, it increases informality in the long run due to the fear of losing benefits, remains insufficient in enhancing employability, and contributes to the formation of a poverty trap. Beneficiaries perceive social assistance as a right and support its integration with employment through conditional aid mechanisms. This study addresses a key gap in the literature, which has largely focused on individual tendencies while neglecting the structural dimensions of welfare dependency. Drawing on mixed-method data collected in Diyarbakır, the study demonstrates that welfare dependency is not a personal flaw but rather a structural necessity and a rational survival strategy. The findings reveal that this dependency stems from systemic mechanisms that implicitly encourage informality. Furthermore, by holistically analyzing the interaction between welfare dependency, employment motivation, and informality, the study provides a multidimensional social work perspective that connects individual experiences with structural policy dynamics, thereby filling an important gap in the existing literature. The study concludes that combating poverty effectively requires linking social assistance to empowerment-oriented and employment-based interventions. Strengthening coordination between social welfare and labor policies, alongside capability-enhancing social work practices, is essential for reducing welfare dependency and promoting sustainable social inclusion.