Gritty citizens? Exploring the logic and limits of resilience in UK social policy during times of socio-material insecurity

Bibliographic Data

ID11432006
AuthorsMatthew Donoghue (0000-0003-0336-1461, University of Oxford, corresponding author), Daniel Edmiston (0000-0001-8715-654X, University of Leeds)
Year2020
Volume40
Issue1
Pages7-29
Publication date2020-02-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Social Policy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0261-0183 • E-ISSN: 1461-703X
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0261018319825547
OpenAlexW2914388276
LanguageEN
Citations received24
References cited27

In recent years, resilience has been invoked as both a pre-emptive and responsive strategy to tackling socio-material insecurity. This article outlines a number of discursive and administrative features that distinguish the rise of resilience from longer-term shifts towards ‘active citizenship’ in British social policy. We use data from two studies of financial hardship to examine how the fetishised ideal of resilience is reified and negotiated in the everyday experiences of low-income citizens. We argue that resilience is practised as ‘a way of being’, but in contorted ways that reflect restrictions to agency, resources and autonomy. This article makes an original contribution by exposing a current paradox within resilience as a governing agenda: it is principally pursued in ways that compromise the material and ontological security necessary for its productive potential. The article concludes by reflecting on what conceptual and applied agendas this presents for policymakers, practitioners and academics in the UK and further afield

Agency (philosophy · Autonomy · Citizenship · Compromise · Ideal (ethics · Political science · Politics · Psychological resilience · Resilience (materials science · Social science · Sociology · Employment and Welfare Studies · Law · Psychology · Resilience and Mental Health · Social Psychology · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

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