Austerity in a disadvantaged West Midlands neighbourhood: Everyday experiences of families and family support professionals

Jones, Demelza ORCID: 0000-0002-5985-1972, Lowe, Pam and West, Karen (2020) Austerity in a disadvantaged West Midlands neighbourhood: Everyday experiences of families and family support professionals. Critical Social Policy, 40 (3). pp. 389-409. doi:10.1177/0261018319840923

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Abstract

This article examines everyday effects of austerity in Kingshurst – a disadvantaged urban neighbourhood in the West Midlands. It draws on qualitative data gathered from local families with children, and public and third sector professionals working in the area in family support services. While some of the issues raised are common to other disadvantaged communities across the UK, we recognise that austerity is experienced in specific socio-spatial context: in this case, Kingshurst’s circumstance of deprivation within a local authority borough that (as a whole) is above averagely affluent. This shaped the ways that residents and professionals framed the disadvantage they encountered in their everyday lives and work, in particular strengthening understandings of austerity as unfairly and unevenly experienced on the bases of geography and social class, and highlighting territorial stigma towards the neighbourhood by professionals and decision-makers which impeded residents’ engagement with the family support services available to them locally.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Austerity; Disadvantage; Families; Stigma; Neighbourhood; REF2021
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Business, Computing and Social Sciences
Research Priority Areas:	Place, Environment and Community
Depositing User:	Demelza Jones
Date Deposited:	08 Mar 2019 11:35
Last Modified:	31 Aug 2023 08:24
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/6575

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