Annette Hastings

Connecting Linguistic Structures and Social Practices: a Discursive Approach to Social Policy Analysis

There is an emerging interest within social and policy studies in the potential connections between linguistic practices and broader social processes. It is, however, difficult to find examples of research which take a fully discursive approach to policy analysis. Such a discursive approach might focus on how the use of language in the policy process is involved with social practices, such as the legitimisation of social relations or the construction of ‘knowledge’ of social reality. The article begins by exploring theoretical and methodological issues in relation to connecting micro aspects of language use, such as grammar and lexis, with the social construction of knowledge. It then uses discourse analysis to explore how the linguistic resources of a key British urban policy document, New Life for Urban Scotland , are involved with reproducing and sustaining a particular ‘knowledge’ or discourse about the causes of urban decline.

Discourse and Urban Change: Introduction to the Special Issue

This Special Issue is part of the `culturalturn’ within the ® eld of urban studies, giventhat it highlights the role of discourse as acomponent of urban processes and change.The papers start from the assumption that ourexperience of the world will be shaped by theprocesses and practices by which we signifyor represent the world. The papers share acommon perspective that the processes bywhich meanings are made, shared, negotiatedor imposed are intrinsic to processes of socialreproduction, contestation and change andare therefore actively involved in shapingeconomy and society. More speci® cally, theIssue focuses on the role of language use indetermining meaning in the urban policy pro-cess. It foregrounds how discursive practicesand language use, mediated through thearena of political action and policy interven-tion, interact with other kinds of societalprocesses and practices operating within theurban sphere. Perhaps, therefore, it is moreaccurate to describe this Issue as contributingspeci® cally to the development of thelinguistic rather than cultural turn within thestudy of urban policy.The issue collects selective papers fromthe conference `Discourse and UrbanChange’ held at the University of Glasgow,UK in 1997. In collecting the papers, it ishoped that the relevance and value of explor-ing urban issues from the perspective of dis-course studies can be demonstrated. Theconference was organised in the knowledgethat, whilst the study of language and dis-course was emerging as a research issue inthe urban studies ® eld, the research wasfragmented between disciplines and institu-tions. The themes of the conference included:social constructionist accounts of urban pol-icy processes and events; communication,rhetoric and argumentation in policy and thevalue of textually orientated discourse analy-sis

Discourse Analysis: What Does it Offer Housing Studies?

This article reviews the emerging literature which uses discourse analysis to explore questions for housing research. It considers the extent to which housing researchers have exploited the potential of discourse analysis as a research approach and assesses the nature of the contribution that employment of this approach has made to housing studies. The article firstly examines the nature of the empirical terrain which has been opened up to housing research through its engagement with discourse analysis, before moving on to assess the extent to which this engagement has helped to illuminate housing processes. It concludes by arguing that discourse analysis offers a critical perspective, not only in relation to questions surrounding the use of language, but also for more traditional issues in housing research.

Poor Neighbourhoods and Poor Services: Evidence on the ‘Rationing’ of Environmental Service Provision to Deprived Neighbourhoods

There is growing political concern that poor neighbourhoods often receive inadequate public services, although little research to date which explores how and why this may be the case. Earlier research on environmental services has suggested that poor neighbourhoods do not tend to get levels of this service which are proportionate to their needs. This paper extends an earlier analysis to explore the processes by which this underprovision occurs. It is argued that three ‘rationing’ processes are central to explanations: institutional rationing which describes a systemic bias against fully meeting the needs of poor neighbourhoods; reactive rationing in which service practices and standards are varied between neighbourhoods; and political rationing where service levels and standards are sensitive to variations in the political resources of neighbourhoods. The analysis reveals how these rationing processes produce levels of environmental maintenance in poor neighbourhoods which are insufficient to address needs.

Neighbourhood Environmental Services and Neighbourhood ‘Effects’: Exploring the Role of Urban Services in Intensifying Neighbourhood Problems

This paper examines the consequences of a system of neighbourhood environmental service provision which fails to pay sufficient attention to territorial differences in ‘need’ for such services. It explores the impacts of a ‘territorial injustice’ of service provision for poor neighbourhoods, arguing that insufficient service provision operates as a ‘neighbourhood effect’ compounding the problems of being poor and living in a poor area. The paper shows how high levels of social need and a failure within environmental service provision to compensate for these levels of need combine and interact to deepen the environmental problems encountered in many deprived neighbourhoods. In particular, the paper shows how these interactions reduce the capacity of both front line service providers and neighbourhood residents to cope with environmental challenges and thus reveals processes which entrench neighbourhood disadvantage. In so doing, the paper contributes to debates about how so-called ‘neighbourhood effects’ occur.

Coping with the Cuts? The Management of the Worst Financial Settlement in Living Memory

Abstract The scale of the cuts to local government finance, coupled with increasing demand for services, has led to unprecedented ‘budget gaps’ in council budgets. Arguably, two competing narratives of the trajectory of local government have emerged in which contrasting futures are imagined for the sector – a positive story of adaptation and survival and more negative one of residualisation and marginalisation. Drawing on case study evidence from three English local authorities, the paper distinguishes and provides examples of three strategic approaches to managing austerity – efficiency, retrenchment and investment. It demonstrates how and why the balance of these strategies has shifted between the early and later phases of austerity and considers the extent to which the evidence of the case studies provide support for either the survival or marginalisation narrative. The paper concludes by arguing that a third narrative – responsibilisation – captures more fully the trajectory of local government in England.

Territorial Justice and Neighbourhood Environmental Services: A Comparison of Provision to Deprived and Better-off Neighbourhoods in the UK

Do the poorest neighbourhoods receive the poorest environmental services? This paper explores whether local environmental service provision in the UK achieves ‘territorial justice’ with respect to deprived and nondeprived neighbourhoods within cities. Territorial justice is argued to pertain when the distribution of service provision to neighbourhoods reflects levels of need for the service. Focusing on the provision of street-level environmental services in four British local authorities, the paper shows that poor and better-off neighbourhoods have different levels of need for environmental services. It then examines whether the services provided are commensurate with variations in need, using observed cleanliness levels within the neighbourhoods to assess this. The author argues that—despite an increasing policy and practice focus on targeting public services towards deprived neighbourhoods in the UK—environmental service provision does not yet take full account of the complex needs of poor places, meaning that they tend to be dirtier than their more affluent counterparts.

Bourdieu and the Big Society: empowering the powerful in public service provision?

There is concern that the ‘localism’ promoted by the UK Coalition Government will further empower the already powerful. This paper uses Bourdieu’s theory of practice to theorise middle-class public service use. Building on a previous evidence review (Matthews and Hastings, 2013) it considers whether the habitus of the middle-classes enables them to gain disproportionate benefit from public services. Service provision is understood as a ‘field’ marked by a competitive struggle between social agents who embody class-based power asymmetries. It finds that engagement with the state is a classed practice producing benefits to those already empowered and that localism may exacerbate inequalities.

Homo Economicus in a Big Society: Understanding Middle-class Activism and NIMBYism towards New Housing Developments

Abstract Problems of housing supply and affordability in England have long been recognized by policy-makers. A key barrier to supply is seen to be community activism by so-called not-in-my-back-yard activists (NIMBYs). The localism policy agenda, or devolving decision-making down to the local level, is central to how the UK coalition government seek to overcome this opposition. This conceives NIMBYism as a demonstration of homo economicus – of the rationality of economic beings seeking to maximize their utility. In this view, residents would not accept large urban extensions in suburban areas because they took on localized costs with no obvious benefits, unless incentivised appropriately. In this paper, we use analysis of British Social Attitudes Survey data as well as the results of the first review of middle-class activism in relation to public services to identify the likelihood of residents being incentivized by this version of localism to accept new housing. We conclude that the evidence on the individual and collective attitudes suggests that it is unlikely that localism will deliver new housing. Importantly, the political power of affluent and professional groups means they can ensure that their opposition is heard, particularly in the neighbourhood plans delivered through localism. The paper argues that planning for housing needs to understand communities as homo democraticus – as actively engaged in negotiating between complex interests with respect to support for new housing.

Symposium Introduction: Local Responses to ‘Austerity’

Abstract This introduction to the symposium sets out the context for local government in the United Kingdom at the current time. It outlines the scale of the reductions in funding since 2010, showing how uneven these cuts have been across the country and the reasons for this. It also describes the increased exposure to risk of both local government and of the citizens and communities it serves. The central question for the papers which follow is how local government is responding to these twin challenges. The papers provide insights from a number of detailed studies of individual authorities, exploring the strategies adopted to manage in response. The analyses focus on the distributive consequences for individuals and communities, but they also reflect on the wider consequences for local government itself. A particular concern is whether local responses are changing as austerity moves from its initial to its later phase.