New Peer-Reviewed articles on the social construction of housing problems

Keith Jacobs; Jim Kemeny and Tony Manzi (2003) "Power, Discursive Space and Institutional Practices in the construction of Housing Problems", Housing Studies (July) Vol. 18 No. 4 pp. 429-446

Abstract
A constructionist approach to the study of social problems and housing policy provides a theoretically informed means of analysing the ways in which housing policy is formulated and implemented. Yet despite a strong commitment by housing researchers to policy relevance, constructionist studies of how specific social problems are generated and deployed have so far made only a limited impact on housing research. The paper addresses this lacuna by first discussing important literature and the key conceptual issues in this field of study. This is followed by a discussion of two examples from recent UK housing policy (the shift in the 1980s from defining lone mothers as the victims of housing shortages to a morally questionable group subverting needs-based allocation policies and the re-emergence of anti-social behaviour as a problem on housing estates). The paper’s conclusion is that the ‘construction of problems’ provides a rich source of new material as well as offering significant opportunities to develop a more critically informed housing research agenda.

Key words: social problems, housing, power, discourse, institutional practice

Keith Jacobs; Jim Kemeny and Tony Manzi (2003) "Priveleged or exploited council tenants? The discursive change in Conservative housing policy from 1972 to 1980" Policy and Politics (July) Vol.31 No.3 pp.307-320

Abstract
The key argument of this article is that public policy is shaped by a process of social construction in which definitions of reality often contradictory - compete with one another and play a decisive and formative part in policy-making. Furthermore, the justification of a major policy intervention very often requires that a simple story be constructed and related in which there are villains or victims, and which creatively identifies a ‘social problem’ that needs to be addressed by the adoption of appropriate policy measures. To support these arguments the article draws upon archive and documentary evidence to show how contrasting political and media representations of council tenants in the 1960s and 1970s provided the emotive labelling justifying new council housing legislation by the Heath and Thatcher Governments. In the 1960s the problem of the privileged council tenant provided the justification for the introduction of Fair Rents in 1972. In the 1970s the problem of the exploited council tenant provided the justification for the introduction of the Right to Buy in 1980. It is concluded that the successful mobilisation of bias plays a vital part in legitimising policy, and more attention should be paid to this process.

Key words: Discourse, Mobilisation of bias, Council tenant

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