Making a Life on Mean Welfare
Voices from Multicultural Sydney
1st Edition
Published on 16. December 2022
142 pages
978-1-4473-5371-3 (ISBN)
Description
We are often told that mean welfare is what the public wants. Whether or not that's true, this book encourages us to at least be honest about what that entails.
It explores how diverse welfare users navigate the personal and practical hurdles of Australia's so-called social security system, where benefits are deliberately meagre and come with strings attached. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in a region of Sydney known for ethnic diversity and socio-economic disadvantage, Emma Mitchell brings her own experience of belonging to a poor family long reliant on welfare to her research.
This book shows the different cultural resources that people bring to welfare encounters with a sensitivity and subtlety that are often missing in both sympathetic and cynical accounts of life on welfare.
It explores how diverse welfare users navigate the personal and practical hurdles of Australia's so-called social security system, where benefits are deliberately meagre and come with strings attached. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in a region of Sydney known for ethnic diversity and socio-economic disadvantage, Emma Mitchell brings her own experience of belonging to a poor family long reliant on welfare to her research.
This book shows the different cultural resources that people bring to welfare encounters with a sensitivity and subtlety that are often missing in both sympathetic and cynical accounts of life on welfare.
More details
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Bristol
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bristol University Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
2 s/w Tabellen
2 Tables, black and white
ISBN-13
978-1-4473-5371-3 (9781447353713)
DOI
https://doi.org/10.51952/9781447353713
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
12/2022
1st Edition
Policy Press
€47.99
Available for download
Book
12/2022
1st Edition
Policy Press
€105.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Emma Mitchell is Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Urban Geographies of Care in the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University.
Content
1. Introduction
2. A hand up, not a handout
3. Seatbelts and safety nets
4. Problems of access in community welfare
5. Negotiating vulnerability
6. The shame of protection
7. The art of getting by
8. Conclusion: From problems to possibilities
2. A hand up, not a handout
3. Seatbelts and safety nets
4. Problems of access in community welfare
5. Negotiating vulnerability
6. The shame of protection
7. The art of getting by
8. Conclusion: From problems to possibilities
