The Everyman archetype: discursive reframing of private landlords in the financialization of rental housing

Kath Hulse, Margaret Reynolds and Chris Martin

Housing Studies, 2020, vol. 35, issue 6, 981-1003

Abstract: This article investigates the politico-cultural processes underpinning the financialization of private rental housing. Exploring the case of Australia, it shows how debt-financed landlords have been discursively reframed as ‘mum and dad investors’ who are valorized politically as enterprising, self-reliant and providing essential housing. This article then critically appraises this depiction based on available secondary data, and finds that protagonists are, predominantly, midlife and older households with higher household incomes and higher wealth levels. Furthermore, deployment of an Everyman archetype is a politico-cultural device for normalizing this type of activity as part of the financialization of everyday life. Discursive reframing bolsters political and public support for investor-landlordism as an important contributor to asset-based welfare.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/02673037.2019.1644297 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:chosxx:v:35:y:2020:i:6:p:981-1003

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/chos20

DOI: 10.1080/02673037.2019.1644297

Access Statistics for this article

Housing Studies is currently edited by Chris Leishman, Moira Munro, Ray Forrest, Alex Schwartz, Hal Pawson and John Flint

More articles in Housing Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().