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From Streetscapes to Sofas: Representations of Place and Space in Britain’s Benefit Blackspots

Author

Listed:
  • Katherine Harrison

    (Leeds Beckett University, UK)

  • Jayne Raisborough

    (Leeds Beckett University, UK)

  • Lisa Taylor

    (Leeds Beckett University, UK)

Abstract

Representations of place and space in Factual Welfare Television (FWT) are under-researched, contributing to neglect of spatial stigma in austerity culture. In this article, we combine agnotology – the study of manufactured ignorance – with visual grammar methods to examine Channel 5’s Britain’s Benefit Blackspots (2017) to address why FWT is spatially significant. We argue that televisual representations of the abject ‘welfare claimant’ in Britain have a spatial dimension, evident in repeated camera shots of derelict, deindustrialised, litter-strewn outside spaces and large sofas, overflowing ashtrays and dusty corners inside homes. We conclude that FWT’s representations serve two functions: first, they obscure the spatial inequalities inherent in austerity policies by reducing social problems to constructed social types and their places and ways of living and, second, they enable sets of socio-spatial assumptions that become unquestioned ways of reading and understanding disadvantaged and disadvantag ised spaces of residence.

Suggested Citation

  • Katherine Harrison & Jayne Raisborough & Lisa Taylor, 2021. "From Streetscapes to Sofas: Representations of Place and Space in Britain’s Benefit Blackspots," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 26(2), pages 377-393, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:26:y:2021:i:2:p:377-393
    DOI: 10.1177/1360780420946781
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Tracey Jensen, 2014. "Welfare Commonsense, Poverty Porn and Doxosophy," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 19(3), pages 277-283, September.
    2. N/A, 2010. "The UK economy," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 213(1), pages 3-3, July.
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