The shame game : overturning the toxic poverty narrative / Mary O'Hara

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Hara, Mary, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Poverty--Great Britain.

Poverty.

Poverty--United States.

Poverty--Social aspects--Great Britain.

Poverty--Social aspects--United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xviii, 386 pages)

Edition:

First edition

Place of Publication:

Bristol, UK ; Chicago, IL, USA : Policy Press, 2020.

Summary:

What does it mean to be poor in Britain and America? For decades the primary narrative about poverty in both countries is that it has been caused by personal flaws or 'bad life decisions' rather than policy choices or economic inequality. This misleading account has become deeply embedded in the public consciousness with serious ramifications for how financially vulnerable people are seen, spoken about and treated. Drawing on a two-year multi-platform initiative, this book by award-winning journalist and author Mary O'Hara, asks how we can overturn this portrayal once and for all. Crucially, she turns to the real experts to try to find answers - the people who live it.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Introduction

I The inconvenient truth: poverty is real

The pity party

A short prologue

1 Who are these ‘poor’ people anyway? Being on the breadline in Britain

2 What? There are poor people in the richest nation on earth?

II Turning the screw on poor people: shame, stigma and the cementing of a toxic poverty narrative

Shop till you drop

3 A twisted tale: evolution of the poverty narrative

4 Lights, camera, vilification: the narrative in action

5 The games we play: weaponising the narrative

6 Shame on you: making the toxic narrative stick

III Flipping the script: challenging the narrative war on the poor

The great escape

7 Feeling it: the truth about living in poverty

8 Changing times: fighting poverty, not the poor

9 Next generation: young people writing their own script

10 Altered images: constructing a new narrative

Notes

Selected further reading

Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 08 Mar 2021).

ISBN:

1-4473-4927-X

9781447349273

OCLC:

1141512077