Introduction

The now infamous notion that ‘we are all in this together’ is contradicted by the asymmetrical outcomes of welfare austerity in the UK. Justifications for fiscal recalibration and welfare reform have been driven by and precipitated a growing tropological and material distinction between ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ citizens. Couched within the framework of meritocratic liberalism, this distinction between ‘shirkers’ and ‘strivers’ fuels a specious belief that socioeconomic marginality is attributable to the problematic lifestyle choices and orientations of low-income, unemployed individuals. In response, some have suggested that there is little that distinguishes the orientations and attitudes of citizens living in poverty from those of the rest of society (Vincent, 1991; Dean and Melrose, 1999). A number of studies suggest that, beyond their inability to fulfil their aspirations as a result of poverty, people experiencing poverty exhibit broadly similar attitudes to the rest of the population when it comes to work, family, welfare services and social citizenship (for example, Heath, 1992; Gallie, 1994; Marshall et al, 1996; Crisp et al, 2009; Patrick, 2014). In doing so, many of these studies seek to rebut the ‘immoral underclass’ hypothesis (Murray, 1994) and the narrative of ‘irresponsibility’ that pervades dominant political and policy discourse (Hancock and Mooney, 2013).

While these studies successfully critique the (mis-) characterisation of low-income, unemployed individuals, they nonetheless tend to neglect the ‘divergent discourses and practices of poor and better-off citizens’ and situate this within the broader schema of inequality (Jordan and Redley, 1994: 156). While these studies recognise the presence and effects of inequality, they tend to overlook how domains of social, economic and political life are differently constituted, experienced and negotiated within and between social groups of a given polity. Inevitably, those facing validation and contingency are ‘influenced by the particular opportunities and constraints that confront them’ (Jordan, 1996: 111). With this in mind, this chapter explores how poor and rich citizens negotiate the institutions and ideals that have come to structure welfare and inequality.