Idle Thieving Bastards? Scholarly Representations of the `Underclass'

Bagguley, Paul; Mann, Kirk

doi:10.1177/0950017092006001008

Cited by 25 publications

(27 citation statements)

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“…Drury and Dennison's (1999) interview study with benefit officers identified further discursive repertoires. On one hand-and consistent with an "underclass" representation (Bagguley & Mann, 1992;MacDonald, 1998)-benefits officers stated that adolescents as a group lack communication skills and motivation. On the other hand-and consistent with contemporary discourses of individualization (Furlong & Cartmel, 1997)-benefit officers typically denied that generalizations about young people were possible and instead stressed individual responsibility.…”

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confidence: 94%

Adolescent Communication With Adults In Authority

Drury

2003

Journal of Language and Social Psychology

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Adults in authority (teachers, employers, police officers, doctors, benefits officers, etc.) have been found to view adolescents as lacking in communication skills and even the motivation to communicate with them. Adolescents themselves, on the other hand, highlight issues of power and a lack of respect in causing problems in their communication with these adults. This review suggests that mutually antagonistic representations might feed into the interaction between the two groups; recommends more fine-grained research on such interaction; and argues that initiative to improve young people's "communication skills" may serve as part of an individual-blaming agenda.

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confidence: 94%

Adolescent Communication With Adults In Authority

Drury

2003

Journal of Language and Social Psychology

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“…At this point the arguments of Bagguley and Mann (1992) and Dean and Taylor-Gooby (1992) remain powerful. In the academic portrayal of the 'underclass' Bagguley and Mann argue 'a subtle shift occurs from the problems faced by the "underclass" to the problem of the "underclass"' (1992: 114, original emphasis).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whilst the approaches of Dean and Westergaard to the concept of 'underclass' are important it is possible to see how they can be assimilated to 'underclass' as ideology (c.f. Bagguley and Mann, 1992), for all three approaches are linked by the discourse of the Right which sees unemployment, poverty and so forth as a pathological or cultural failing within the market. The fact that there is little or no evidence to support such a view (Dean, 1991;Westergaard, 1992), suggests that the current usage of 'underclass' is at the same time an academic fashion fuelled by the Right, a dominant discourse regarding the causes of a range of social problems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘A Murderous ‘Underclass’? The Press Reporting of Sexually Motivated Murder

Grover

Soothill

1996

The Sociological Review

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The ‘underclass’ is widely held by commentators of the Right to be responsible for a host of social problems, including violent crime. This paper shows how in the reporting of sexually motivated murder in a sample of nine British newspapers for one complete year (1992), the image constructed is one where unemployed and other marginalised men are portrayed as the main perpetrators of sexual violence. This, the authors argue, hampers our understanding of sexual violence, for it suggests that it is only men of a ‘low’ socio‐economic background who are a potential threat to women and children. It is also suggested that the ‘symbolic environment’ of the press reporting of sexual murder provides a context in which a more authoritarian benefit regime and greater control of poor communities can be spuriously justified.

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“…Labour continues to tacitly support many of Field's assumptions about human behaviour and the effect that collective welfare may have on individual actions. This approach could be seen to imply a separatè`u nderclass'' whose behaviour needs to be remoralized, in part by welfare reform; an approach clearly rejected by many on the left (Bagguley and Mann 1992;Roseneil and Mann 1994). Field's obsession with what he considers to be the dysfunctional behaviour of some recipients of social welfare and his emphasis upon individual strategies of self-help under the guiding hand of a moral community shares common concerns with Macmurray and Etzioni.…”

Section: Stakeholdingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Doing The Right Thing: Labour’s Attempt to Forge a New Welfare Deal Between the Individual and the State

Heron

Dwyer

1999

Soc Policy Adm

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This paper explores the rhetoric behind the Labour Government's welfare reforms. Recent publications and statements emanating from the new administration indicate the extent to which Labour feels comfortable with notions of communitarianism and stakeholding. The in¯uence and (potential) impact of these two concepts upon welfare policy is explored through the works of Macmurray, Etzioni, Hutton and, in spite of his departure from Government, Field. The paper argues that in attempting to create a welfare system based largely on conditions of work, set ®rmly within a framework of self-help and individual responsibility, Labour's reform agenda is concerned with the establishment of a new moral order for welfare in which individuals are urged tò`d o the right thing'': that is, to take control of their own welfare and ultimately to be responsible for meeting their own needs whenever possible. The Government presents this attempt to forge a welfare settlement between the individual and the state as both new and inclusive. However, it is concluded that such claims are contentious as the Government's``new'' approach echoes old individualistic ideas about the causes and solutions to poverty, and may also result in the exclusion of some citizens from publicly ®nanced welfare provision.

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Idle Thieving Bastards? Scholarly Representations of the `Underclass'

Cited by 25 publications

References 0 publications

Adolescent Communication With Adults In Authority

Adolescent Communication With Adults In Authority

‘A Murderous ‘Underclass’? The Press Reporting of Sexually Motivated Murder

Doing The Right Thing: Labour’s Attempt to Forge a New Welfare Deal Between the Individual and the State

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