Security and Anxiety of Homeownership

Perceptions of Middle‐class Australians at Different Stages of their Housing Careers

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12633877
AutoresVal Colic-Peisker (0000-0002-3471-0938, a Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute , RMIT University , Melbourne, Australia), Guy Johnson (0000-0003-0116-5424, a Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute , RMIT University , Melbourne, Australia, autor correspondente)
Ano2010
Volume27
Fascículo4
Páginas351-371
Data de publicação2010-03-17
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoHousing Theory and Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1403-6096 • E-ISSN: 1651-2278
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14036090903326502
OpenAlexW2161059054
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas38
Referências citadas24

This article explores narratives of homeownership by middle‐class Australians in the context of an increasingly complex and volatile housing market. Our analysis focuses on people's perceptions and feelings of security and anxiety at different stages in their housing careers. We use the concepts of ontological security and risk society to frame the analysis. The participants' narratives of homeownership were mainly positive, in tune with a well established idea of homeownership as the fulfilment of the ‘great Australian dream’, and the view that homeownership influences people's status, identity and sense of belonging in a positive way. However, we found that homeownership created its own set of anxieties. These anxieties varied in people of different ages and at different stages of their housing careers. Mortgage indebtedness, high interest rates, housing market volatility and the threat of global recession were the most often mentioned sources of anxiety. A discourse of global uncertainty and risk brought about by social change and globalization was pervasive. The article is based on narrative data collected in late 2007 through eight focus groups with a total of 73 participants

Anxiety · Context (archaeology · Economics · Feeling · Geography · Market economy · Middle class · Narrative · Perception · Sociology · Homelessness and Social Issues · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Psychology · Social Psychology · Urban Planning and Governance