Abstract
Poor-blaming and poor-shaming have
become intrinsic parts of the neoliberal
order. For neoliberal discourse to enter and
to dominate wider public ‘common sense’,
vehicles of ‘populist language’ are required
and the mass media has taken a central
place in propagandising neoliberalism
through their narration of poverty. This
article focuses on so-called ‘reality TV’ and
its neoliberal framing of the poor,
particularly since 2007 and specifically in
its generation of support for, and
acquiescence in, ‘austerity’. We argue that
what these programmes provide is a
representation of poverty which is
politically expedient but socially divisive.
As criminologists, we suggest that this
representation symbolises the
intensification of what Cohen (2002: xxi)
noted as the prominence of ‘“welfare
cheats”, “social security frauds” and “dole
scroungers” as fairly traditional folk devils.
Further, we
argue that an intensification in the
denigration of the poor and the marginal in
these programmes can be traced across
three phases, from 2009 onwards, defined
by their key features. Whilst not neatly
discrete, these phases mirror the
neoliberal political shift from welfare to
punishment. They manufacture ‘epidemic
problems’ that are seen to require urgent
remediation. Yet the status and
nature of these problems are defined
through deception and the forms of
intervention required are determined
through individualised and moralised
neoliberal prescription.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 191-211 |
Number of pages | 21 |
Journal | Crime, Media, Culture |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 2 |
Early online date | 24 Nov 2016 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Aug 2018 |
Keywords
- Austerity
- benefits
- neoliberal
- poverty
- reality TV