Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T17:10:04.312Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Flawed Construct? Understanding and Unpicking the Concept of Resilience in the Context of Economic Hardship

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2017

Paul Hickman
Paul Hickman*
Affiliation:
Centre for Regional, Economic and Social Research (CRESR), Sheffield Hallam University E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Increasingly, the construct of resilience has been used by social scientists and (social) policy makers in relation to individual resilience to economic hardship. There are a number of issues within the literature on the subject that are unresolved including: whether it is an attribute or a process; the extent to which resilience is a positive phenomenon; the extent to which individuals living in economic hardship have agency; and whether it is finite. The article unpacks these issues, drawing on qualitative data from a longitudinal study in Northern Ireland. It found resilience to be a negative experience for study participants, although they did exhibit a number of attributes that may be described as being positive. They were often unable to exercise ‘positive’, transformative agency, because the choices available were limited and pernicious in nature. The article concludes that as an analytical tool for exploring the experiences of people living in economic hardship, the construct of resilience is not helpful.

Keywords

Resilienceeconomic hardshipdisadvantaged neighbourhoodsstructureagency
Type
Articles
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 17 , Issue 3 , July 2018 , pp. 409 - 424
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Athwal, B., Brill, L., Chesters, G. and Quiggin, M. (2011) Recession, Poverty and Sustainable Livelihoods in Bradford, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
Bartley, M. (2006) Capability and Resilience: Beating the Odds, London: University College London.Google Scholar
Batty, E. and Cole, I. (2010) Resilience and the Recession in Six Deprived Communities: Preparing for Worse to Come?, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
Batty, E., Beatty, C., Casey, R., Foden, M., McCarthy, L. and Reeve, K. (2015) Homeless People's Experiences of Welfare Conditionality and Benefit Sanctions, London: Crisis.Google Scholar
Beatty, C. and Fothergill, S. (2013) The Impact of Welfare Reform on Northern Ireland, Research Paper, Sheffield: NICVA/CRESR.Google Scholar
Béné, C., Headey, D., Haddad, L. and von Grebmer, K. (2015) ‘Is resilience a useful concept in the context of food security and nutrition programmes? Some conceptual and practical considerations’, Food Security, 8, 1, 123–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyden, J. and Cooper, E. (2007) Questioning the Power of Resilience: Are Children Up to the Task of Disrupting the Transmission of Poverty?', CPRC Working Paper 73, Oxford: Chronic Poverty Research Centre.Google Scholar
Burchardt, T. and Huerta, M. (2009) 'Introduction: resilience and social exclusion', Social Policy and Society, 8, 1, 59–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cameron, D. (2016) ‘Prime Minister's Speech on Life Chances’, Gov.UK, https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/prime-ministers-speech-on-life-chances [accessed 23.02.2017].Google Scholar
Citizens Advice Northern Ireland (2011) Cold House for Everyone? Fuel Poverty in Northern Ireland, Belfast: Citizens Advice.Google Scholar
Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) (2014) Addressing Need, Overcoming Uncertainty: 2013/14 Annual Report, Belfast: CAB.Google Scholar
Cohen, R., Coxall, J., Craig, G. and Sadiq-Sangster, A. (1992) Hardship Britain: Being Poor in the 1990s, London: Child Poverty Action Group.Google Scholar
Crisp, R. and Powell, R. (forthcoming) ‘Youth unemployment, interdependence and power: tensions and resistance within an alternative, “co-produced” employment programme’, in Bevir, M., Matthews, P. and McKee, K. (eds.), Decentring Urban Governance: Narratives, Resistance and Contestation, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Dagdeviren, H., Donoghue, M. and Promberger, M. (2016) 'Resilience, hardship and social conditions’, Journal of Social Policy, 45, 1, 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, R. (2008) 'More than “just coping”: the antecedents and dynamics of resilience in a qualitative longitudinal study’, Social Policy and Society, 8, 1, 115–25.Google Scholar
Department of the Economy (2016) Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 26 October, Belfast: Department of the Economy.Google Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2010a) 21st Century Welfare, London: Department for Work and Pensions.Google Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2010b) Universal Credit: Welfare that Works, London: Department for Work and Pensions.Google Scholar
Ferrari, E. (2015) 'The Social Value of housing in straitened times: the view from England', Housing Studies, 30, 4, 514–34.Google Scholar
Harrison, E. (2013) ‘Bouncing back? Recession, resilience and everyday lives’, Critical Social Policy, 33, 1: 97–13.Google Scholar
Hickman, P. (2013) ‘“Third places” and social Interaction in deprived neighbourhoods in Great Britain’, Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 28, 2, 221–36.Google Scholar
Hickman, P., Batty, E., Dayson, C., Flint, J., Foden, M., Muir, J., Ambrose, A. and Green, S. (2015) ‘Getting-By’, Coping and Resilience in Difficult Times: Final Report, Sheffield: CRESR, Sheffield Hallam University.Google Scholar
Hooper, C., Gorin, S., Cabral, C. and Dyson, C. (2007) Living with Hardship 24/7: The Diverse Experiences of Families in Poverty in England, London: Frank Buttle Trust/NSPCC.Google Scholar
Keck, M. and Sakdapolrak, P. (2013) ‘What is social resilience?’, Eredkunde, 67, 1, 5–19.Google Scholar
Krasnya, M., Lundholm, C. and Plummer, R. (2010) ‘Environmental education, resilience, and learning: reflection and moving forward’, Environmental Education Research, 16, 5–6, 665– 72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lister, R. (2004) Poverty, Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
MacKinnon, D. and Derrickson, K. (2013) ‘From resilience to resourcefulness’, Progress in Human Geography, 37, 2, 253–70.Google Scholar
Magis, K. (2010) ‘Community resilience: an indicator of social sustainability’, Society and Natural Resources, 23, 5, 401–16.Google Scholar
Milne, A. and Rankine, D. (2013) Reality, Resources, Resilience: Regeneration in a Recession, JRF Programme Paper, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
Mohaupt, S. (2008) ‘Resilience and social exclusion’, Social Policy and Society, 8, 1, 63–71.Google Scholar
New Economics Foundation (NEF) (2010) Local Resilience is the Key to Well-Being, London: New Economics Foundation.Google Scholar
New Economics Foundation (NEF) (2012) Surviving Austerity: Local Voices and Local Actions in England's Poorest Neighbourhoods, London: New Economics Foundation.Google Scholar
New Policy Institute (NPI) (2014) Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion in Northern Ireland 2014, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
nidirect (2016) Benefits are Changing for People of Working Age: Welfare Changes in Northern Ireland, https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/campaigns/welfare-changes [accessed 23.02.17].Google Scholar
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (2016) Northern Ireland Poverty Bulletin 2014/15, Belfast: NISRA.Google Scholar
Northern Ireland Assembly (2011) Research and Library Service Briefing Paper: Economic Briefing, March 2011, Belfast: Northern Ireland Assembly.Google Scholar
Olsson, L., Jerneck, A., Thoren, H., Person, J. and O'Byrne, D. (2015) ‘Why resilience is unappealing to social science: theoretical and empirical investigations of the scientific use of resilience’, Science Advances, 1, 4, e1400217.Google Scholar
Office of National Statistics (ONS) (2015) Regional Gross Disposable Household Income (GDHI): 1997 to 2013, London: Office of National Statistics.Google Scholar
Orr, S., Brown, G., Smith, S., May, C. and Waters, M. (2006) When Ends Don't Meet: Assets, Vulnerabilities and Livelihoods – An Analysis of Households in Thornaby-on-Tees', Oxford: Church Action on Poverty/Oxfam.Google Scholar
Pemberton, S., Sutton, E. and Fahmy, E. (2013), A Review of the Qualitative Evidence Relating to the Experience of Poverty and Exclusion, Working Paper No. 22, Bristol: University of Bristol.Google Scholar
Platts-Fowler, D. and Robinson, D. (2013) Neighbourhood Resilience in Sheffield: Getting-By in Hard Times, Sheffield: CRESR/Sheffield City Council.Google Scholar
Robinson, G. and Carson, D. (2015) ‘Resilient communities: transitions, pathways and resourcefulness’, The Geographical Journal, 182, 2, 114–22.Google Scholar
Scottish Government (2013) The Potential Impacts of Sanctions on Individuals and Households, Edinburgh: Scottish Government.Google Scholar
Stonehouse, D., Threlkeld, G. and Farmer, J. (2015) ‘“Housing risk” and the neoliberal discourse of responsibilisation in Victoria’, Critical Social Policy, 35, 3, 393–413.Google Scholar
Tugade, M. and Fredrickson, B. (2004) ‘Resilient individuals use positive emotions to bounce back from negative emotional experiences’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 2, 320–33.Google Scholar
University of Ulster (2014) Northern Ireland Quarterly Housing Price Index for Q1 2014, Belfast: University of Ulster.Google Scholar
Young Foundation (2012) Adapting to Change: The Role of Community Resilience, London: Young Foundation.Google Scholar
Zolli, A. and Healy, A. (2012) Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back, London: Headline Publishing Group.Google Scholar