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Fairness and the politics of resentment

Beedell, Pheobe; Hoggett, Paul; Wilkinson, Hen; Beedell, Phoebe

Authors

Pheobe Beedell

Paul Hoggett

Hen Wilkinson

Phoebe Beedell



Abstract

The role of the emotions in the framing of welfare policies is still relatively underexplored. This article examines the role of resentment in the construction of a particular form of 'anti-welfare populism' advanced by the Coalition Government in the UK after 2010. We argue that UK political parties have appropriated the discourse of fairness to promote fundamentally divisive policies which have been popular with large sections of the electorate including, paradoxically, many poorer voters. In focus group research in white working class communities in the UK undertaken just before the 2010 General Election, resentments related to perceived unfairness and loss emerged as very strong themes among our respondents. We examine such resentments in terms of an underlying 'structure of feeling' which fuels the reactionary populism seen in 'anti-welfare' discourses. These promote increasingly conditional and punitive forms of welfare in countries experiencing austerity, such as the UK, creating rivalries rather than building solidarities amongst those who 'have little' and drawing attention away from greater inequalities. Copyright © 2013 Cambridge University Press.

Citation

Beedell, P., Hoggett, P., Wilkinson, H., & Beedell, P. (2013). Fairness and the politics of resentment. Journal of Social Policy, 42(3), 567-585. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279413000056

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jul 1, 2013
Journal Journal of Social Policy
Print ISSN 0047-2794
Electronic ISSN 1469-7823
Publisher Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 42
Issue 3
Pages 567-585
DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279413000056
Keywords fairness, equality, structure of feeling, resentment, conditionality
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/933863
Publisher URL http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0047279413000056