Power, Discursive Space and Institutional Practices in the Construction of Housing Problems

Abstract

This is an electronic version of an article published in Housing Studies, 18(4), pp. 429-446, July 2003. Housing Studies is available online at:http://www.journalsonline.tandf.co.uk/openurl.asp?genre=article&issn=0267-3037&volume=18&issue=4&spage=429The Eprints service at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Users are permitted to download and/or print one copy for non-commercial private study or research. Further distribution and any use of material from within this archive for profit-making enterprises or for commercial gain is strictly forbidden.Whilst further distribution of specific materials from within this archive is forbidden, you may freely distribute the URL of the University of Westminster Eprints (http://eprints.wmin.ac.uk).In case of abuse or copyright appearing without permission e-mail wattsn@wmin.ac.uk. WestminsterResearchhttp://www.wmin.ac.uk/westminsterresearchThe WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Users are permitted to download and/or print one copy for non-commercial private study or research. Further distribution and any use of material from within this archive for profit-making enterprises or for commercial gain is strictly forbidden.Whilst further distribution of specific materials from within this archive is forbidden, you may freely distribute the URL of WestminsterResearch. (http://www.wmin.ac.uk/westminsterresearch).

Social Mix and the Problematisation of Social Housing

“…As social mix policies seem to be increasingly embedded in government social housing agendas, it therefore remains imperative that assumptions underpinning their use and that the outcomes produced continue to be critically analysed. Jacobs et al (2003) sees housing policy as 'a site of contestation in which competing interests seek to impose definitions on what the main 'housing problems' are and how they should be addressed ' (p.20). Extending on this argument, we seek to highlight the problematic nature of defining social problems, which can all too easily become normative assumptions and ways of understanding.…”

“The (Unintended) Consequences of Governance?”: Examining the Role of “Frames” in Creating Imaginary Housing Systems and their Importance for Understanding the Practices of Senior Housing Professionals

“…Secondly they complain about the enormous efforts they have to go to in order to prove the effectiveness of the project while, thirdly, constantly being aware of having to address the 'Other' oppositional but nonetheless operational project with a 'material reality' that is at all times counter to the objectives of the 'official' project (Carlen 2008 Integrating the two strands of economic and political reality, this Imaginary can be said to emerge from what Carlen calls the 'unintended ideological products of governance: economic insecurity; governance through auditing and actuarialist techniques to produce a mountain of hard copy testifying to responsible and effective government ' (2008: 9). These phenomena are in no way alien to the housing profession and are strongly represented in the socially constructed tropes of 'managerialism' in social housing (Jacobs and Manzi 1996, Jacobs, Kemeny and Manzi 2003, Manzi 2010. Indeed, it would seem plausible to suggest that Carlen's study and the one examined here shows the ways in which imaginary systems are constructed by welfare professionals (particularly senior managers) who are subject to the rigours and pressures of governance.…”

“…Secondly, the statutory housing provider must also meet a number of managerial requirements (see Jacobs and Manzi 1996, Jacobs, Kemeny and Manzi 2003, Manzi 2010 'Dreamers' and 'activists' populate this world and their subjects are those whom society has shunned (the archetypes of the 'madman' and the 'artist' take a central place in this imaginary), their objects have a strong mind/body connection and their purpose (investment) is to 'call into question' taken for granted notions, particularly those which are regarded as being responsible for the production and reproduction of inequality, oppression and exploitation.…”

Capturing the Castle: Tenant Governance in Social Housing Companies

“…While tenants may well have joined the competing interest groups that Jacobs et al (2003) see as negotiating the definitions of contemporary housing, they are the least powerful and perhaps the easiest to exclude.…”

“…The concept of tenant participation that sees tenant directorships as the pinnacle of a ladder of participation opportunities -as decision-making, rather than consultation (Platt 1987 As a perspective in housing research, constructionism has contributed a keen reflexivity that has questioned 'common sense' approaches to housing issues (Jacobs & Manzi 2000a). It has been applied successfully to understanding how certain issues become identified as 'problems' and has been a particularly useful tool in discerning the exercise of power within organisations and the structuring of power through discourse (Jacobs et al 2003).…”