It Shouldn't Happen Here

Colonial and racial discourses of deservingness in UK anti-poverty campaign

Dados Bibliográficos

ID11431672
AutoresAlexandra Wanjiku Kelbert (0000-0002-9595-7731, University of Warwick, autor correspondente)
Ano2022
Volume42
Fascículo4
Páginas565-585
Data de publicação2022-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoCritical Social Policy (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0261-0183 • E-ISSN: 1461-703X
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/02610183221075960
OpenAlexW4210578638
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas22

In September 2012, Save the Children UK launched the It Shouldn't Happen Here campaign, to raise awareness of the incidence of poverty amongst British children, and raise funds for the charity's UK programmes. Shortly after the launch, SCUK experienced severe media and political backlash, as primarily centre and right-wing commentators described the campaign as a political stunt, and sought to discredit, deny and depoliticise the claims that severe child poverty ‘happens here’. Drawing on interviews with former staff, and an analysis of the media response, this article explores the ways in which the campaign and the ensuing backlash were embedded in a set of colonial and racialized discourses around ‘who is poor’ and who is deserving/undeserving both in Britain and globally. Crucially, the findings from this study raise important challenges to the recent reintroduction of questions of race (as whiteness) in populist discussions around class and poverty

Backlash · Colonialism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Poverty · Race (biology · Sociology · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics