Managing the 'Underclass': Interpreting the Moral Discourse of Housing Management

Anna Haworth and Tony Manzi
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Anna Haworth: School of the Built Environment, Department of Housing, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS, UK, haworta@westminster.ac.uk
Tony Manzi: School of the Built Environment, Department of Housing, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS, UK, manzit@westminster.ac.uk

Urban Studies, 1999, vol. 36, issue 1, 153-165

Abstract: This paper examines contemporary housing management practice by attention to a changing discourse within social policy, emphasising duties over rights. Current policy initiatives are based upon concerns about the collapse of foundational assumptions and a perceived decline in moral responsibility. This concern is most commonly articulated in debates about the existence of an urban underclass, linked to anti-social behaviour on housing estates. The paper argues that a communitarian outlook has exerted a significant impact on contemporary initiatives incorporating a strongly judgmental bias. As a consequence, housing practice discriminates between behaviour in social housing and privately owned property. Drawing upon post-liberal perspectives, the conclusion suggests that the predominance of a deontological discourse has resulted in policies of social control of residents.

Date: 1999
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:36:y:1999:i:1:p:153-165

DOI: 10.1080/0042098993790

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