Marsden, L. orcid.org/0000-0002-2569-864X (2024) Economic martyrs and moralised others: the construction of social class in UK media during the ‘age of austerity’. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 27 (1). pp. 70-86. ISSN 1367-5494
Abstract
This article describes the key findings of a study which critically analyses the construction of social class within UK media during the period 2010–2016 – part of the ‘age of austerity’. Focusing upon 240 newspaper articles covering six topics (emergency budget, welfare reform, workfare, bedroom tax, food banks and zero-hour contracts), the study provides critical insights into how class is constructed in an important context: namely that of economic downturn and rising inequality. The findings suggest that a pro-austerity discourse dominates the coverage. Here austerity is described as necessary, and the idea of ‘unavoidable scarcity’ forms the basis for a ‘moral divide’ between a vague in-group – the ‘ordinary hardworking people’, defined by their idealised struggle and selfless sense of duty – and an exploitative ‘other’. This both legitimises austerity and masks its broader impact. As the impacts become more apparent, however, challenges to the dominant narrative begin to appear. In the course of these challenges, the struggle inherent to class is placed back on the agenda, and class is increasingly constructed as an ‘anxious concept’ – a slippery slope down which one might fall.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Author(s). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is properly attributed. |
Keywords: | Austerity; bedroom tax; discourse; food banks; media; social class; welfare reform; workfare; zero-hour contracts |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Sociological Studies (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 19 Jan 2024 16:33 |
Last Modified: | 07 Nov 2024 11:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/13675494221147746 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:207672 |