Scroungers

Scroungers makes many salient and persuasive arguments, most notably regarding the incompatibility between the abstract fetishisation of work and the grim reality of neoliberal Britain. * Guardian * In his new book Scroungers (Zed), James Morrison … explores and analyses the way in which the poor are portrayed in print and online. * New Humanist * Scroungers makes many salient and persuasive arguments, most notably regarding the incompatibility between the abstract fetishisation of work and the grim reality of neoliberal Britain. * Guardian * Unmasks the motives and mechanisms behind anti-welfare discourses through a forensic analysis of ideological ploys by right-wing politicians, wilfully distorted narratives in traditional media and vitriolic outpourings in social media. A highly original contribution to the sociology of hate. * Charles Critcher, Swansea University * Meticulously revisits and dissects press and TV misrepresentation of so-called “shirkers”. The book is ultimately optimistic, appearing at a time when many are now questioning the neo-liberal consensus that has sustained these anti-welfare narratives. * Dominic Wring, Loughborough University * If there was any doubt that scroungerphobia was accidental, Morrison shows us the opposite – it is a carefully constructed and dangerous discourse attached to the “undeserving” in society. This book provides an essential counter-narrative to this hysteria. * Kayleigh Garthwaite, University of Birmingham * Morrison examines how the press helped to prepare public opinion for the government’s unprecedented attack on Britain’s welfare state. A robust and important contribution to the debate on how the media shapes attitudes towards the poor. * Mike Berry, Cardiff University * The demonising of the poor has long been at the core of British social policy. Morrison’s important study brings this story into the digital age, and is essential to understanding the role of the media in sustaining this brutal rhetoric. * Peter Golding, Northumbria University (Emeritus) * From “scroungerphobia” to “shirkophobia”, Morrison throws a penetrating light on the politics of the pernicious demonization and othering of social security claimants in the social media age. * Ruth Lister, Loughborough University (Emeritus) *