Keith Jacobs

Discourse Analysis and its Utility for Urban Policy Research

In recent years, discourse analysis has been deployed by academics as a methodology to understand the urban policy implementation process, in particular, the ways in which key actors exercise power. Much of the discourse-based research in urban policy has drawn upon the writings of Norman Fairclough and Michel Foucault and seeks to provide a critical scrutiny of texts and utterances of policy makers and other key actors. The methodological assumption that informs discourse-based approaches is that politics is an arena in which different interest groups seek to establish a particular narrative or version of events as a means to pursue political objectives. This article begins by setting out the theoretical influences that have informed discourse analysis. There then follows a discussion of some of the studies that have deployed discourse-based research within urban policy, an evaluation of its strengths and weaknesses as a method and an assessment for new areas of enquiry. The articles conclusion is that discourse analysis provides the researcher with a set of tools to interpret urban policy in a theoretically informed and insightful way. However, there are some pitfalls associated with its techniques that require consideration before any analysis should commence.

Evaluating the Social Constructionist Paradigm in Housing Research

This article considers the contribution of ?social constructionist? research to housing studies. The first part of the paper discusses ?positivist? epistemologies that have provided an implicit foundation for the majority of housing research. It then examines the philosophical suppositions that underpin ?social constructionism?. This is followed by a summary of the major criticisms that can be levelled against the new research agenda, alongside a review of recent examples of housing research that draw upon social constructionism. Finally, the paper considers the future of theoretical housing research and speculates as to what can be achieved by methods based upon a social constructionist epistemology.

Discourse and policy change: The significance of language for housing research

Abstract The paper reviews a range of epistemological concerns which are pertinent to the study of housing policy. It is divided into four sections: first, a formulation of language as ‘expressive behaviour’ is put forward to show that language is not simply a medium in which ideas and intentions are communicated, rather it is best understood as dynamic and integrally linked to relations of power and dominance. The second section suggests a methodology which can be applied to a study of housing policy and demonstrates with examples how certain words often used in the language of housing are necessarily linked to a wider cultural and ideological milieu. The third section explores how power relationships are manifested through language. To support these arguments the fourth section applies the methodology to examine the content of some key housing terminology ‘expressed’ during the post‐war period in the UK and considers the implications that follow from its usage.

Performance indicators and social constructivism: conflict and control in housing management:

As practitioners prepare to implement ‘best value’ models in housing management, it is clear that the measurement and evaluation of all aspects of service provision will have significant organizational consequences. This article argues that the use of performance indicators (PIs) reconfigures traditional power structures and mechanisms of control within organizations. Thus although PIs are generally perceived as valuable management instruments, we suggest that their privileged status in practice results in an oppositional culture whereby staff adopt strategies of resistance. The article is divided into four parts. The first part outlines our methodological approach. Here we set out the merits of a constructivist framework for a critique of recent developments in housing practice. The second part considers the background to the emergence of a performance culture in the public sector. By focusing on issues of power and conflict, the third part makes use of empirical research to highlight how the discourse of ‘performance management’ permeates housing practice. Finally, we provide some examples of other areas of housing practice, which can usefully be explored from a social constructivist perspective.

Discourses of social exclusion: an analysis of bringing Britain together: a national strategy for neighbourhood renewal

This paper provides a discursive analysis of the UK Governments Social Exclusion Unit report Bringing Britain together: a national strategy for neighbourhood renewal (SEU, 1998a). The methodology makes use of the three-fold categorization of discourses of social exclusion developed by Levitas (1998) with reference to contemporary British politics and social policy. This framework is used to interpret the ideological and political significance of the Social Exclusion Units report. Our aim is to show how certain terms and key arguments within the document legitimize activity and structure the parameters of policy intervention. Particular emphasis is given to how ?poor neighbourhoods? and ?housing problems? are represented within the report in relation to the three discourses of social exclusion. We suggest that despite the reports claims to novelty with regard to policies on urban regeneration, there are considerable areas of overlap with previous area-based approaches to tackling ?social exclusion?.

New Localism, Old Retrenchment: The “Big Society”, Housing Policy and the Politics of Welfare Reform

Abstract This article considers the ideology underpinning the 2010 UK Government’s welfare reform agenda in order to foreground what we see as the contradictions of localism and its justification in housing policy through the “Big Society” agenda. The article has three sections. It begins by discussing some of the methodological challenges that arise in interpreting contemporary policy and the value of a historically informed approach to understand the wider “politics” underpinning the “Big Society” agenda. To support our argument, the second part of the article traces the “localist” agenda back from the 1970s to the defeat of Labour in the 2010 general election to show how both Conservative and Labour administrations deployed localism as a justification for welfare reform and in different ways created opportunities for market-based reforms. The third section of the article considers the contemporary period, in particular the reforms presented to parliament in 2011 that offer new avenues for interest groups to influence decisions that hitherto have been mainly the preserve of local government. The conclusion provides a summary of the key policy implications and theoretical issues that arise from the analysis.

Waterfront Redevelopment: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Policy-making Process within the Chatham Maritime Project

The redevelopment of the former naval dockyards in Chatham is one of the largest regeneration sites in the UK and is widely seen as a high-profile flagship project aimed at encouraging business investment. This paper utilises the Chatham redevelopment project as a basis from which to discuss recent developments in UK policy. It draws upon the methods of critical discourse analysis in order to discuss particular tensions within the project in the context of central-local government relations, partnership arrangements, project implementation and marketing. The papers conclusion is that, in spite of the initiatives established to devolve decision-making and establish regional autonomy, property-led development projects in the UK are likely to remain tightly controlled with only limited scope for community groups to exert influence.

The post social turn: Challenges for housing research

In an editorial entitled ‘Living Room’ for the journal Urban Geography (Vol. 25, 2004) Susan Smith made reference to the ‘tired state of housing studies’. Smith argued that the ‘post-social turn’ in sociology and cultural geography has largely gone unnoticed by housing researchers and because of this, the radical implications of its epistemology have yet to be explicitly addressed. This post-social turn, elsewhere referred to as Science and Technology Studies, Actor Network theory, feminist technoscience and post-humanism, calls on researchers to decentre the human as the nucleus of social life and in turn recognize the significance of non-human actors (e.g. animals, technology and material artefacts) within social analysis. While in recent years housing scholars have begun to embrace post-structuralist accounts of social life, including discursive and constructionist theories, there has only been limited engagement with post-social assumptions and concepts. In view of this gap, this paper reviews recent developments in post-social theory with a specific focus on the implications of this approach for housing studies.

Historical Perspectives and Methodologies: Their Relevance for Housing Studies?

Though there has been a willingness by housing researchers to embrace new methodologies such as discourse analysis and social constructionist perspectives in their efforts to make sense of contemporary policy developments, there has been, with notable exceptions, only passing references to historical methodologies and their utility for housing research. Very often where historical methods are used these are implicit with little discussion of the methodological challenges that arise. The first part of the paper discusses some of the general arguments for using historical methods in the social sciences as well as specific matters of relevance to the study of housing policy. It reviews the contribution historical scholarship has made to the study of housing policy. The second part of the paper discusses how specific historical methodologies can be utilised by housing researchers - for example: - oral history; textual analysis; archival research; visual studies; and statistical analysis. The conclusion argues that though there are pitfalls that need to be overcome, historical methodologies provides housing researchers with the techniques to sharpen their conceptual framework and provide a more contextualised reading of the policy process than has hitherto been the case.

Investigating the New Landscapes of Welfare: Housing Policy, Politics and the Emerging Research Agenda

Abstract As debates about housing form an increasingly important arena of political controversy, much has been written about the new fissures that have appeared as governments not only struggle to reduce public expenditure deficits but also attempt to address problems such as affordability and homelessness. It is widely anticipated that new conflicts will be played out in the private rental market as access to homeownership becomes unrealistic and the supply of social housing diminishes. However, what other tensions might surface; that hitherto have not been subject to the critical gaze of housing research? In this paper, we provide some thoughts on the nascent policy issues as well as the ideological schisms that are likely to develop in coming years, offering suggestions as to how the focus of housing policy research might be reoriented towards a “politics” framework to capture and better understand the conflicts that are likely to arise.