Living with and responding to the 'scrounger' narrative in the UK: exploring everyday strategies of acceptance, resistance and deflection



Patrick, Ruth
(2016) Living with and responding to the 'scrounger' narrative in the UK: exploring everyday strategies of acceptance, resistance and deflection. Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, 24 (3). pp. 245-259.

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Abstract

In the UK, a dominant narrative operates to stereotype and stigmatise out-of-work benefit claimants as inactive welfare dependents who require activation if they are to enter paid employment and behave responsibly. Drawing upon a small-scale qualitative longitudinal study into lived experiences of welfare reform, this paper explores how out-of-work claimants respond to this dominant narrative. The paper illustrates the reach of benefits stigma, and the strategies adopted by claimants to manage such stigma: most notably via an 'othering' of those deemed less deserving. It is argued that this 'othering' is best understood as an admittedly defensive form of citizenship engagement.

Item Type: Article
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 02 Sep 2016 14:07
Last Modified: 19 Jan 2023 07:30
DOI: 10.1332/175982716x14721954314887
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3003154