Scroungers - James Morrison

Scroungers

Moral Panics and Media Myths

(Autor)

Buch | Hardcover
332 Seiten
2019
Zed Books Ltd (Verlag)
978-1-78699-214-7 (ISBN)
105,95 inkl. MwSt
An examination of the disturbing rise of 'scrounger-phobia' in the media and society at large, and how this has fuelled popular hostility towards benefit claimants.
Scroungers, spongers, parasites …

These are just are some of the terms that are typically used, with increasing frequency, to describe the most vulnerable in our society, whether they be the sick, the disabled, or the unemployed. Long a popular scapegoat for all manner of social ills, under austerity we’ve seen hostility towards benefit claimants reach new levels of hysteria, with the ‘undeserving poor’ blamed for everything from crime to even rising levels of child abuse.

While the tabloid press has played its role in fuelling this hysteria, the proliferation of social media has added a disturbing new dimension to this process, spreading and reinforcing scare stories, while normalising the perception of poverty as a form of ‘deviancy’ that runs contrary to the neoliberal agenda. Provocative and illuminating, Scroungers explores and analyses the ways in which the poor are portrayed both in print and online, placing these attitudes in a wider breakdown of social trust and community cohesion.

James Morrison is a reader in journalism at Robert Gordon University, UK as well as a senior examiner for the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). Before entering academia he spent over a decade as a staff reporter for newspapers including the Independent on Sunday as well as working as a freelance writer for publications including the Guardian. His previous books include Familiar Strangers, Juvenile Panic and the British Press: The Decline of Social Trust (2016), Journalism: The Essentials of Writing and Reporting (2015) and Essential Public Affairs for Journalists (2009).

Introduction: Scroungerphobia Revisited: Shirker-Bashing and Feral Freak-Shows

1. Moral Panics, Scapegoating and the Persistence of Pauper Folk-Devils
2. Problem Families and ‘The Workless’: The Rhetorical Roots of Shirkerphobia
3. Framing the Poor: Images of Welfare and Poverty in Today’s Press
4. Deliberating Deservingness: The Public’s Role in Constructing Scroungers
5. Incidental Scroungers: Normalizing Anti-Welfarism in Wider Press Narratives
Conclusion: From Division to Unity: A Manifesto for Rebuilding Trust
Appendix 1: Framing Analysis Methodology
Appendix 2: Sentiment Analysis Methodology

Erscheinungsdatum
Zusatzinfo 4 bw tables
Sprache englisch
Maße 140 x 222 mm
Gewicht 576 g
Themenwelt Sozialwissenschaften Kommunikation / Medien Journalistik
Sozialwissenschaften Kommunikation / Medien Medienwissenschaft
Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie
ISBN-10 1-78699-214-0 / 1786992140
ISBN-13 978-1-78699-214-7 / 9781786992147
Zustand Neuware
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