Media representations of social housing before and during COVID-19: the changing face of the socially excluded

Abstract

Existing research demonstrates that the mainstream media produces and reproduces highly stigmatising representations of social housing. Such representations are largely underpinned by a moral underclass discourse, which blames individuals’ social exclusion on their own moral deficiencies. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, social, economic, and political contexts have changed significantly, and problems that were once perceived to be the result of individuals’ deficits are increasingly viewed as being beyond their control. It is therefore timely to revisit representations of social housing in the mainstream media, to examine whether such representations have also changed in line with shifting social and economic contexts. To this end, this article examines mainstream media representations of social housing in the Australian state of Queensland before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings highlight important changes in the discourses invoked in the media articles, underpinned by a shift in who is perceived as being socially excluded and why.

Keywords:

• Social housing
• social exclusion
• media
• discourse
• COVID-19

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The media we analysed tended to use terms such as social housing, public housing, community housing, tax-payer-funded housing, and welfare housing interchangeably. The academic literature, in contrast, treats these as separate concepts. Here, we use the term ‘social housing’ to encapsulate all forms of subsidised housing, whether the subsidy comes from government, charitable, or other organisations.

2 Initially, we sampled articles from both The Courier Mail and Brisbane Times news outlets. However, given that our focus was on Queensland as a whole (as opposed to Brisbane specifically), and including a range of local newspapers from across the state was not feasible within the scope of this study, we decided to exclude articles from Brisbane Times (n = 14). Doing so did not alter our main findings in any meaningful way, as the patterns we observed were similar across outlets. For instance, there were far fewer articles on social housing in Brisbane Times before COVID-19 (n = 4) than during COVID-19 (n = 10).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (Project ID CE200100025) and Future Fellowship (FT180100250).

Notes on contributors

Ella Kuskoff

Ella Kuskoff is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The University of Queensland. Her research focuses on qualitative analyses of inequality and disadvantage. In particular, she is interested in social and policy responses to inequality and disadvantage, and how they may be changed to more effectively address social issues. Her particular areas of interest include domestic violence, gender, and homelessness. Ella’s recent work has been published in journals such as Housing Studies, Violence Against Women, and Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Twitter: @EllaKuskoff

Chris Buchanan

Chris Buchanan is a fourth-year student at the University of Queensland currently completing the Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics program. He has recently worked as a Summer Research Scholar in the School of Social Sciences, contributing to the ‘Responding to Homelessness in a Post-COVID-19 World: New Solutions to Old Problems’ project. His research interests include housing and homelessness, media studies, macroeconomic policy, and political philosophy.

Christine Ablaza

Christine Ablaza is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the School of Social Science at The University of Queensland. Her research leverages advanced quantitative methods to examine different aspects of economic and social disadvantage, including informal and other forms of non-standard employment, housing and homelessness, and gender and sexuality. Prior to completing her PhD, she worked as an economics and statistics analyst at the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank country office in the Philippines. Twitter: @tin_ablaza

Cameron Parsell

Cameron Parsell is Professor of the Social Sciences at The University of Queensland. He is the author of The Homeless Person in Contemporary Society. His research focuses on understanding the experience of poverty and what societies do to address it. With an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, Cameron’s recent work examines charity and the Australian welfare state, with an aim of improving both. His recent work has been published in outlets such as Social Problems, Housing Studies, American Journal of Sociology, and The Sociological Review. Twitter: @cameronparsell

Francisco Perales

Francisco (Paco) Perales is Associate Professor of Sociology at The University of Queensland. His research uses longitudinal and life-course approaches and quantitative methods to enhance our understanding of social stratification in contemporary societies. Paco’s recent work has concentrated on identifying the drivers of socio-economic inequalities by socio-economic background, gender, and sexual orientation within Australian society. His work has recently been published in outlets such as Demography, Social Forces, Journal of Marriage and Family, Population and Development Review and Social Science & Medicine.