scholarly journals The invention of the ‘sink estate’: Consequential categorisation and the UK housing crisis

2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 877-897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Slater
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Urban Politics ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Antisocial Behaviour ◽  
Social Suffering ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
Family Breakdown ◽  
The Uk

This article explores the history and traces the realisation of a category that was invented by journalists, amplified by free market think tanks and converted into policy doxa (common sense) by politicians in the United Kingdom: the ‘sink estate’. This derogatory designator, signifying social housing estates that supposedly create poverty, family breakdown, worklessness, welfare dependency, antisocial behaviour and personal irresponsibility, has become the symbolic frame justifying current policies towards social housing that have resulted in considerable social suffering and intensified dislocation. The article deploys a conceptual articulation of agnotology (the intentional production of ignorance) with Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic power to understand the institutional arrangements and cognitive systems structuring deeply unequal social relations. Specifically, the highly influential publications on housing by a free market think tank, Policy Exchange, are dissected in order to demonstrate how the activation of territorial stigma has become an instrument of urban politics. The ‘sink estate’, it is argued, is the semantic battering ram in the ideological assault on social housing, deflecting attention away from social housing not only as urgent necessity during a serious crisis of affordability, but as incubator of community, solidarity, shelter and home.

The 2008 financial crash continues

2020 ◽  
pp. 99-106
Author(s):  
Bob Colenutt
Keyword(s):  
Social Housing ◽  
Banking System ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
Property Market ◽  
Housing Investment ◽  
The Us ◽  
Boom And Bust ◽  
Overseas Investment ◽  
The Uk ◽  
House Building

The 2008 Crash and its continuing aftermath have had a lasting impact on the scale and persistence of the housing crisis. The chapter explains that the Crash was largely caused by over lending to residential property in the US but the contagion spread to the UK banking system. It argues that the fall out continues to affect the market in a number of ways notably credit policies housing investment and cut backs in public expenditure. The banking system and the property market were bailed out and the austerity decade has reduced the capacity and ability of local government to build social housing or compensate for the fall in private sector house building. It is argued that the UK housing market is particularly subject to boom and bust fuelled by speculation and overseas investment yet the planners were scapegoated by the Treasury for the collapse on house building after 2008.

scholarly journals Neoliberal Nomads: Housing Insecurity and the Revival of Private Renting in the UK

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Bone
Keyword(s):  
Social Housing ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Housing Tenure ◽  
Social Effects ◽  
Major Contributor ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
Private Renting ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Rented Sector

This paper offers a critical analysis, including insights from the fledgling sub-discipline of neurosociology, with the aim of challenging some of the key assumptions informing the state supported revival of the UK private rented sector (PRS) as a mainstream form of housing tenure. As is widely recognised, the PRS's expansion has occurred in tandem with the long running decline of social housing and the more recent reversal in the longstanding trend towards increasing owner occupation. This paper asserts that the policies supporting this overall trend are misconceived on a number of fronts, as the loosely regulated UK private rented sector is not only a major contributor to the country's ongoing housing crisis but carries with it a range of unacknowledged economic and social problems including profound effects on personal well-being, some fairly evident and others less so. With respect to the latter, it is argued that coming to an understanding of the negative implications of private renting in the UK under current arrangements, in addition to the more evident issues associated with poor condition and high cost accommodation, also requires an appreciation of the deeper psycho-social effects of involuntary mobility, insecurity and socio-spatial dislocation.

scholarly journals Polanyi’s embeddedness and shareholder stewardship: a contextual analysis of current Anglo-American perspectives on corporate governance

2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-468
Author(s):  
Lorraine E Talbot
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Free Market ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
The Us ◽  
Neoliberal Economics ◽  
Governance Strategies ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Institutional Shareholders

Polanyi saw the economy as properly embedded in society and argued that the capitalist free market, in commodifying social relations of production, seeks to disembed the economy from society. The resulting lack of continuity between society and economy, he maintained, created conflict which necessarily required state intervention. The market economy, therefore, in contrast to neoclassical/neoliberal economics’ vision of an autonomous, self-regulating market, required more, not less, state intervention to sustain it than alternative, more embedded economies. This article explores this conflict in the context of a specific neoliberal claim: that institutional shareholders are capable of being good 'stewards' of the companies in which they invest. Utilising Polanyi’s embeddedness, this article assesses the 'stewardship' approach as it is manifested in the US and in the UK. This approach is posited on a vision of a disembedded, self-regulating market. Putting it into practice is thus a retrograde step which will only exacerbate the problems created by the market-based corporate governance strategies which have prevailed since the late 1970s onwards.

scholarly journals ‘Well grubbed, old mole!’: The press, the Institute of Economic Affairs and the propagation of neo-liberalism in the UK

Journalism ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 146488492110158
Author(s):  
Julian Petley
Keyword(s):  
Free Market ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
Political Class ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Media ◽  
The 2008 Financial Crisis ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Times ◽  
The Uk

This article considers how before and after the Tories came to power in 1979, The Times and the Daily and Sunday Telegraph consistently propagated ideas emanating from the free-market think-tank the Institute of Economic Affairs. It argues that this was part of a wider process in which the post-war Keynesian consensus came under fire from sections of both the media and the political class, and heralded an era in which neo-liberal ideas would come to constitute a new form of economic ‘common sense’. Given the dominance of this perspective, most of the mainstream media failed to anticipate the 2008 financial crisis and have repeatedly endorsed austerity as the only means of reducing the ensuing deficit.

The Liberalizers: Justifying Free-Market Finance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louçã Francisco ◽  
Ash Michael
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Economic Regulation ◽  
Developed Economies ◽  
The Us ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Second World ◽  
The New Deal

Chapter 5 traces how free market ideology displaced the apparent consensus on economic regulation that emerged from the Depression, the New Deal, and the Second World War. Viewed as cranks within economics through the 1960s, Milton Friedman and his supporters built an apparatus of ideas, publications, students, think tanks, and rich supporters, establishing outposts in Latin America and the UK. When developed economies faltered in the 1970s, Friedman’s neoliberal doctrine was ready. With citizens, consumers, and workers feeling worked over by monopolies, inflation, unemployment, and taxes, these strange bedfellows elected Reagan in the US and Thatcher in the UK and rolled to power in academia and in public discourse with a doctrine of privatization, liberalization, and deregulation. Friedman, Eugene Fama, and James Buchanan whose radical free market views triumphed at the end of the 1970s are profiled. A technical appendix, “Skeptics and Critics vs. True Believers” explores the economic debates.

scholarly journals A Free-Market Environmentalist Transition toward Renewable Energy: The Cases of Germany, Denmark, and the United Kingdom

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4659
Author(s):  
William Hongsong Wang ◽  
Vicente Moreno-Casas ◽  
Jesús Huerta de Soto
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Free Market ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Reform Agenda ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Market Environmentalism ◽  
The Uk

Renewable energy (RE) is one of the most popular public policy orientations worldwide. Compared to some other countries and continents, Europe has gained an early awareness of energy and environmental problems in general. At the theoretical level, free-market environmentalism indicates that based on the principle of private property rights, with fewer state interventionist and regulation policies, entrepreneurs, as the driving force of the market economy, can provide better services to meet the necessity of offering RE to protect the environment more effectively. Previous studies have revealed that Germany, Denmark, and the United Kingdom have made some progress in using the market to develop RE. However, this research did not analyze the three countries’ RE conditions from the perspective of free-market environmentalism. Based on our review of the principles of free-market environmentalism, this paper originally provides an empirical study of how Germany, Denmark, and the United Kingdom have partly conducted free-market-oriented policies to successfully achieve their policy goal of RE since the 1990s on a practical level. In particular, compared with Germany and Denmark, the UK has maintained a relatively low energy tax rate and opted for more pro-market measures since the Hayekian-Thatcherism free-market reform of 1979. The paper also discovers that Fredrich A. Hayek’s theories have strongly impacted its energy liberalization reform agenda since then. Low taxes on the energy industry and electricity have alleviated the burden on the electricity enterprises and consumers in the UK. Moreover, the empirical results above show that the energy enterprises play essential roles in providing better and more affordable RE for household and industrial users in the three sampled countries. Based on the above results, the paper also warns that state intervention policies such as taxation, state subsidies, and industrial access restrictions can impede these three countries’ RE targets. Additionally, our research provides reform agendas and policy suggestions to policymakers on the importance of implementing free-market environmentalism to provide more efficient RE in the post-COVID-19 era.

scholarly journals Social relations and self-rated health in a multi-ethnic social housing area undergoing demolition

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
M F Kvorning ◽  
A Srivarathan ◽  
S Nygaard ◽  
R Lund
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Ethnically Diverse ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Residential Areas ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Housing Area ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Contact Frequency

Abstract Background During the coming years, selected social housing areas in Denmark will undergo large structural changes as part of a political agenda. Previous studies on the effects of such interventions are inconclusive. Residential areas are important for the development of social relations and health. The aim of this study was to explore the associations between social relations and self-rated health (SRH) and the interaction with country of origin in an ethnically diverse social housing area undergoing demolition, and compare results with the municipality. Methods Data include multilingual interviewer driven surveys with residents aged 45+ years before demolition began in 2018 (N = 209) and during the demolition in 2019 (N = 132), and a health survey on municipality level (N = 1638). Information on social relations include contact frequency with and support from family, friends and neighbors. SRH was dichotomized into high/low. Descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex and Western/non-Western origin are presented. Results In cross-sectional analyses from 2018, low contact frequency and low support increased the risk of low SRH, OR = 1.44 (0.63-3.29) and OR = 1.23 (0.62-2.48), especially when also having non-Western origin compared to having high contact frequency or support and Western origin, OR = 6.27 (1.80-21.84) and OR = 4.43 (1.68-11.69), respectively. The same association was seen in 2019 and on municipality level. Low contact frequency in 2018 was associated with higher risk of developing or maintaining low SRH in 2019 compared to the group with high contact frequency in 2018 in longitudinal analyses, OR = 3.04 (0.91-10.91). Conclusions Poor social relations increased the risk of low SRH, especially when also having non-Western origin. Having poor social relations before the demolition was associated with an increased risk of developing or maintaining low SRH during the demolition in an ethnically diverse social housing area. Key messages Having low contact frequency before area demolition in a social housing area in Denmark increased the risk of developing or maintaining low self-rated health after demolition had begun. Having poor social relations and non-Western origin is associated with a strong increased risk of low self-rated health in a deprived ethnic diverse social housing area in Denmark.

scholarly journals Critique and Renewal in the Sociology of Music: Bourdieu and Beyond

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Prior
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
New Work ◽  
Sociology Of Culture ◽  
Sociology Of Music ◽  
Critical Engagement ◽  
Potential Problems ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Status Position

This paper reviews the status, position and legacy of Bourdieu in the sociology of music, the waxing and waning of his influence and the recent move away from Bourdieu towards something like a post-critical engagement with musical forms and practices. The idea is to show the reaction to and treatment of Bourdieu’s ideas as a gauge of where we are in the sociology of culture, the various strands of influence that emanate from his work, and to assess what is at stake in a ‘post-Bourdieu’ moment when a position once considered progressive and critical now acts as the foil against which new work is being conducted. The article engages with some recent contributions to the music/society debate from figures in the UK and France, and points to the ways these contributions move debates on musico-social relations into territories more sensitive to the complex mediating qualities of music. Such work is better placed, it is argued, to represent music as an animating force in everyday life, including its specific mediating qualities ‘in action’. At the same time, however, the construction of a new sociology of music is not without its perils. The article will conclude with some potential problems with these approaches, and take stock of what might be lost as well as gained by adherence to them.

Learning to Be Affected: Social Suffering and Total Pain at Life's Borders

2012 ◽  
Vol 60 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 108-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasmin Gunaratnam
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Palliative Care ◽  
Social Suffering ◽  
Total Pain ◽  
The Social ◽  
Pain And Suffering ◽  
The Uk

The practice of live sociology in situations of pain and suffering is the focus of this article. An outline of the challenges of understanding pain is followed by a discussion of Bourdieu's ‘social suffering’ (1999) and the palliative care philosophy of ‘total pain’. Using examples from qualitative research on disadvantaged dying migrants in the UK, attention is given to the methods that are improvised by dying people and care practitioners in attempts to bridge intersubjective divides, where the causes and routes of pain can be ontologically and temporally indeterminate and/or withdrawn. The paper contends that these latter phenomena are the incitement for the inventive bridging and performative work of care and live sociological methods, both of which are concerned with opposing suffering. Drawing from the philosophy of total pain, I highlight the importance of (1) an engagement with a range of materials out of which attempts at intersubjective bridging can be produced, and which exceed the social, the material, and the temporally linear; and (2) an empirical sensibility that is hospitable to the inaccessible and non-relational.

Do planning concepts matter? A Lacanian interpretation of the urban village in a British context

2021 ◽  
pp. 147309522110389
Author(s):  
Chuan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Planning Practice ◽  
Comprehensive Review ◽  
Urban Village ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Planning Concepts

Numerous novel planning concepts have been developed in pursuit of better urban environments, while many are notoriously difficult to define. Lacan’s master signifier is widely employed to criticise these vague, fashionable concepts but lacks a specific examination tool. To fill this gap, this article develops an analytical framework based on Lacanian discourse analysis (LDA) to decipher the complex social relations in the process of applying new concepts to planning policymaking and practice. A comprehensive review of the UK urban village movement is used to demonstrate how this framework provides a deeper analysis, arguing that urban villages are understood differently depending on individual social positions, which, to some extent, determine their actions towards planning practice.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document