Victims of Austerity or Feckless Freeloaders? The Stereotypes of the Deserving and Undeserving Poor in the Debate on Britain’s Food Bank Users
Keywords:
food banks, austerity, deserving poor, undeserving poor, framingAbstract
Once a rare sight, food banks are fast becoming an established feature of Britain’s social security system, their number having increased from around a hundred in 2010 to over two thousand at present. In 2017, as many as 1.2 million emergency food parcels were given out to individuals and families, with demand continuing to grow. The unprecedented dependence of British households on donated food is a disturbing phenomenon raising many questions not only about the government’s welfare policies but also about poverty and the poor themselves. Using framing analysis, this paper aims to explore the ways in which food bank users are portrayed in the public sphere, with special emphasis on media coverage and political discourse across the left-right spectrum. The competing depictions of food bank users are shown as a continuation of the age-old debate on the causes of poverty and its understanding as either individual or systemic failure.
References
Agerholm, Harriet. “Spoof Fundraising Page ‘for Katie Hopkins’ Legal Fees’ Raises Thousands for Food Banks.” The Independent, March 12, 2017. Accessed May 20, 2019. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/spoof-fundraising-page-katie-hopkins-legal-fees-food-banks-trussel-trust-a7625171.html.
Aitken, Robin. “Don’t Let the Left Ruin Our Crusade … Writes Food Bank Pioneer Robin Aitken.” Mail Online, December 8, 2014. Accessed April 18, 2019. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2864820/Don-t-let-Left-ruin-crusade-writes-food-bank-pioneer-ROBIN-AITKEN.html.
Blackford, Ian. “2017 Speech to the SNP Conference.” UKPOL, October 15, 2017. Accessed March 20, 2019. http://www.ukpol.co.uk/ian-blackford-2017-speech-to-snp-conference/.
Buchanan, Michael. “How Much Benefit Money is Lost to Fraud?” BBC News, June 5, 2017. Accessed April 20, 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/election-2017-39980793.
Bulman, May. “Esther McVey: the New DWP Minister’s Statements about People on Benefits and the Policies She Voted For.” The Independent, January 8, 2018. Accessed on May 25, 2019. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/esther-mcvey-dwp-benefits-welfare-stancecomments-controversial-a8149811.html.
Chorley, Matt. “Poor Forced to Use Food Banks? They’ve Got Only Themselves to Blame for Making Bad Decisions, says Michael Gove.” Mail Online, September 10, 2013. Accessed 25 March, 2019. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2416737/Michael-Gove-food-banks-Poor-got-blame.html.
“David Cameron’s Welfare Speech in Full.” The Telegraph, June 25, 2012. Accessed May 2, 2019. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/9354163/David-Camerons-welfare-speech-in-full.html.
“Food Banks Hand Out 1.2 Million Emergency Supplies in a Year.” The Express, April 25, 2017. Accessed April 18, 2019. https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/796243/Food-banks-crisis-children-welfare-system-record-numbers-Trussell-Trust.
Hall, Macer. “Party is over for Benefit Skivers.” The Express, January 9, 2013. Accessed April 20, 2019. https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/369554/Party-is-over-for-benefit-skivers.
Iyengar, Shanto. “Speaking of Values: The Framing of American Politics.” The Forum 3, no. 3 (2005). DOI 10.2202/1540-8884.1093.
Johnstone, Lucy. “Edwina Currie’s Cruel Jibe at the Poor.” The Express, January 19, 2014. Accessed March 30, 2019. https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/454730/Edwina-Currie-s-cruel-jibe-at-poor.
Katz, Michael. “The Biological Inferiority of the Undeserving Poor.” Social Work and Society. International Online Journal 11, no.1 (2013). Accessed on 13 April, 2019. http://www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/359/709.
Kingsley, Patrick. “Universal Credit Has Left Children so Undernourished that Schools are Offering Free Breakfasts.” The Independent, October 1, 2018. Accessed March 23, 2019. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/children-undernourished-universal-credit-austerity-welfare-reforms-poverty-hunger-food-bank-a8557276.html.
Kuypers, Jim A. “Framing Analysis from a Rhetorical Perspective.” In Doing News Framing Analysis, edited by D’Angelo and Paul Jim A. Kuypers. 286-311. New York: Routledge, 2010.
Morris, Michael, and Charlie Cooper. “Hungry Britain: Welfare Cuts Leave More than 500,000 People Forced to Use Food Banks, Warns Oxfam,” The Independent, May 30, 2013. Accessed April 18, 2019. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/hungry-britain-welfare-cuts-leave-more-than-500000-people-forced-to-use-food-banks-warns-oxfam-8636743.html.
Raab, Dominic. “Food Banks Are a Problem – But the Solution is Free Market.” The Telegraph, February 22, 2014. Accessed March 18, 2019. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10655054/Food-banks-are-a-problem-but-the-solution-is-the-free-market.html.
“Record 1.6m Food Bank Parcels Given to People in the Past Year as the Trussell Trust Calls for an End to Universal Credit Five Week Wait.” The Trussel Trust, March 31, 2019. Accessed April, 15, 2019. https://www.trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/latest-stats/end-year-stats/.
Romano, Serena. “Idle Paupers, Scroungers and Shirkers: Past and New Social Stereotypes of the Undeserving Welfare Claimant in the UK.” In Defence of Welfare 2. Bristol: Policy Press, 2019.
Sanghani, Radhika. “Food Bank Surge: Who Are the Clientele In Need of Help?” The Telegraph, April 16, 2014. Accessed March 20, 2019. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-politics/10770457/Food-banks-surge-Who-are-the-new-clientele-in-need-of-help.html.
Seabrook, Jeremy. Pauperland: Poverty and the Poor in Britain. London: Hurst and Company, 2013.
Taylor, Diane. “Conscious Cruelty: Ken Loach’s Schock at Benefit Sanctions and Food Banks.” The Guardian, November 23, 2015. Accessed March 20, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/nov/23/ken-loach-benefit-sanctions-jeremy-corbyn-food-banks.
Tihelková, Alice. “Framing the ‘Scroungers’: the Re-emergence of the Stereotype of the Undeserving Poor and Its Reflection in the British Press.” Brno Studies in English 41, no. 2 (2015): 121 - 139.
Tihelková, Alice. “Going Backwards? The Welfare Agenda of David Cameron’s Government from a Historical Perspective.” From Theory to Practice. Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Anglophone Studies. 35 - 44. Zlín: Univerzita Tomáše Bati ve Zlíně, 2016.
Walker, Peter. “Universal Credit Rollout Linked to Rising Food Bank Use, Rudd Admits.” The Guardian, February 11, 2019. Accessed April 30, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/11/universal-credit-rollout-linked-to-rising-food-bank-use-amber-rudd-admits.
Wilkinson, Iain.“Food Poverty: Agony of Hunger the Norm for Many Children in the UK.” The Conversation, April 30, 2019. Accessed May 20, 2019. http://theconversation.com/foodpoverty-agony-of-hunger-the-norm-for-many-children-in-the-uk-116216.
