Sceptical, Disorderly and Paradoxical Subjects: Problematizing the “Will to Empower” in Social Housing Governance

Abstract

Drawing on focus group research with social housing tenants this paper illustrates that despite the existence of a political 'will to empower' within housing stock transfer policy in Scotland, the effects of governmental strategies are only ever partial and uneven, and may be subject to challenge and contestation from below. Through a focus on 'lay' perspectives and the contested nature of contemporary governing practices, the paper argues for more attention to the messy realities of governing within specific local contexts, especially the way in which governable subjects can think and act otherwise, and forge their own alternative governmentalities.

Om miljöproblemen hänger på mig : Individer förhandlar sitt ansvar för miljön

“…Men hur sådan politisk styrning faktiskt inverkar på och uppfattas av individer är mer oförutsägbart än de generella ideal som styrningen verkar syfta till att främja (McKee, 2011;Hobson, 2013). Hobson (2002) menar att idén om hållbar konsumtion bygger på målet om att individer ska rationalisera sina livsstilar.…”

An Introduction to the Special Issue – Housing in Hard Times: Marginality, Inequality and Class

“…Theoretically, such critical scholarship has been underpinned by social theories of poverty and place, such as Wilson's (1987) and Murray's (1994) seminal work on the urban underclass, and more recently Wacquant's (2008) writings on 'urban outcasts'. Yet Foucault's work on governmentality has also been influential in understanding the regulation of neoliberal subjects: drawing attention to 'normalised' acts of housing consumption, and the role of the state in constructing and mobilising 'active' and 'responsible' citizen-consumers (see for example Flint, 2003;McKee, 2009McKee, , 2011McIntyre and McKee, 2012;Paton et al, 2012). In many of these conceptual debates, which seek to disentangle the influence of structure and agency on individuals' pathways through housing, class has been implicit if not explicit in the analysis, with tenure often used as a 'proxy'.…”

“…A key analytical focus has been the differential impact of social and urban policies in different places at different scales, with a particular emphasis on the most vulnerable, marginalised and excluded groups within society. Scholarship in this area includes for example, research into homelessness (Clapham, 2003;Anderson, 2004;Fitzpatrick and Pawson, 2007); the management and governance of social housing (Cole and Furbey, 1994;Flint, 2004;Malpass, 2003;McKee, 2011;McKee and Phillips, 2012); area-based regeneration, and related concerns about the gentrification of working class neighbourhoods (Allen, 2008;Watt 2008;Kintrea and Muir, 2009;Paton et al, 2012); place-based stigma (Damer, 1989;Hastings, 2004;Johnstone and Mooney, 2007;Robertson et al, 2010); neighbourhood effects (Atkinson and Kintrea, 2001;Manley et al, 2011); and housing market analysis (Bramley et al, 2008;Meen, 2009;Forrest, 2011). More recently, the private rented sector has also become an important area of analytical focus given the blurring of the boundary between the social and private rented sectors.…”

Governing customers? Integrating customer focus and compliance in the urban governance context

“…However, as I explain in more detail when I describe my data collection methods below, I did in fact employ fieldwork methods in this research, as do many others studying governing processes ethnographically (e.g. Cheshire, 2006;McKee, 2011). I therefore want to note what specifically is gained by incorporating fieldwork in studies which are informed by a governmentality approach, such as my own.…”

“…However, a significant number of studies that adopt a governmentality perspective also employ ethnographic methods either alongside or instead of these more traditional Foucauldian methods (see, inter alia, Brady, 2011;Brady & Lippert, 2016;Cheshire, 2006;Collier, 2011;Li, 2007aLi, , 2007bLippert, 2014;McDonald & Marston, 2005;McKee, 2009McKee, , 2011Stenson, 2005Stenson, , 2008. As Brady (2016) explains, the way that ethnography is taken up by governmentality scholars differs somewhat from how it is usually deployed in the social sciences.…”