Geoff Andrews introduces a discussion about the language used to describe poverty, with Owen Jones and Geoff Mooney
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1:06
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1:06
Strivers v Skivers
The strivers v skivers debate. We discuss how the Government has set the poor against the poor with its use of emotive language to describe modern poverty.
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6:43
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6:43
The individualisation of social policy
How recent social policy has become focussed on the individual. We explain why post war British welfare policies have changed our attitudes to those on lower incomes
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6:31
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6:31
Who's Middle Class now?
We explore the link between perceptions of class and the reality of modern poverty and look at how attitudes to class have changed over the years.
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8:20
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8:20
Punitivism and Criminalisation: Poverty in Britain in 2013?
We discuss the criminalisation of the poor following outbreaks of civil disobedience, and the stereotypical portrayals of the benefits fraudsters in our media.
The language used to describe poverty in the UK has a vital bearing on how welfare policy is implemented, and how policies are perceived by the wider population. The strivers versus skivers debate has framed much of the Government's current discussion, and this is part of a process of demonisation of the working classes that has been evolving over the last 75 years. In addition, the stereotyping of class away from a purely economic definition has masked the obvious social divisions which are opening up. Owen Jones, the author of "Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class", and OU Senior Lecturer Gerry Mooney join Geoff Andrews of the OU in discussion.
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