From welfare to lawfare: Environmental suffering, neighbour disputes and the law in UK social housing

Social housing authorities in the UK frequently invoke a language of ‘anti-social behaviour’ and neighbour nuisance in dealing with disputes between tenants. But this language fails to recognise the poor environmental conditions that cause disputes between tenants in the first place. An ethnographic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Critique of anthropology 2018-06, Vol.38 (2), p.221-235
Main Author: Koch, Insa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antisocial behavior
Blame
Deviance
Disputes
Environmental conditions
Ethics
Failure to act
Housing
Moral economy
Neighborhoods
Neighbors
Politics
Public housing
Suffering
Tenants
Welfare
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Summary:Social housing authorities in the UK frequently invoke a language of ‘anti-social behaviour’ and neighbour nuisance in dealing with disputes between tenants. But this language fails to recognise the poor environmental conditions that cause disputes between tenants in the first place. An ethnographic analysis of neighbour disputes identifies a double move from a politics of welfare to one of lawfare: just as housing providers shift the blame onto individual tenants for tenants' perceived failure to act in socially appropriate manners, so tenants end up calling for more policing and tougher neighbourhood control. This politics of lawfare not only places a moral economy of blame at its core but further undermines the possibilities of transforming environmental suffering into redistributive struggles.
ISSN:0308-275X
1460-3721
DOI:10.1177/0308275X18758870