It Shouldn't Happen Here

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

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11431672
AutoresAlexandra Wanjiku Kelbert (0000-0002-9595-7731, University of Warwick, autor de correspondencia)
Año2022
Volumen42
Número4
Páginas565-585
Fecha de publicación2022-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCritical Social Policy (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0261-0183 • E-ISSN: 1461-703X
EditorialSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/02610183221075960
OpenAlexW4210578638
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias 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