2014/07/01 by Jonathan Greene
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Homelessness and Social Issues #Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism #Political and Economic history of UK and US
paper · doi:10.1332/030557312x655936
openalex publication_date 2014/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This paper explores the relationship between strategies to manage poverty and the mobilisation of collective action. Focusing on the period 1979–93, the paper describes how the British Conservative government employed a combination of supportive and punitive interventions to manage homelessness in London. In the process, the paper finds, the government also effectively managed the mobilisation of collective dissent by containing the disruptive effects of visible homelessness while channelling opposition into conventional routes of political power. The paper integrates recent research on poverty management with insights from social movement theory, and explores the implications of these findings for contemporary homeless politics.