New book reveals myth of the ‘benefit scrounger’

A new book by two Teesside University Professors aims to set the record straight that people living in poverty are not like the ‘prejudiced portraits of benefit scroungers’ as depicted in popular culture.

Professors Rob MacDonald and Tracy Shildrick, together with Professor Colin Webster from Leeds Metropolitan University and Kayleigh Garthwaite, Durham University, have written Poverty and Insecurity: Life in Low-pay, No-pay Britain which is published today (Wednesday 19 December) by the Policy Press.

It shows that the ‘ordinary people who do ordinary, necessary but underpaid and undervalued jobs at the bottom of the labour market are mostly forgotten and invisible’.

The authors hope that the book, nominated for the Policy Press Peter Townsend prize, will stand as a corrective to the modern day myth of the ‘welfare scrounger’ heavily drawn upon by public commentators, including politicians, press and television programme makers.

The problem of people moving repeatedly between work and unemployment is endemic in the UK – rising by 60 per cent since 2006 and the problem of ‘in work poverty’ – jobs paying so little that workers can never escape poverty – is gradually being recognised by policy makers.

Professor MacDonald said: 'The substance of this book consists of detailed life stories told to us by men and women, younger and older people who live and work in Middlesbrough. They were all poor, or were so much of the time, even if this was a label now so tainted with stigma that they refused it for themselves. They had fraught experiences juggling precarious work and meagre benefits. We show that cycling between poor work and welfare kept them in or near poverty.'

Professor Shildrick added: 'Ours is a study of the personal consequences of poor work and illustrates the lasting work commitment shown by our interviewees. It would not be an overstatement to say that our interviewees deplored claiming welfare benefits and had a strong work ethic.'

The book has been nominated for the Policy Press Peter Townsend prize by Chris Gouldon, head of the poverty team for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Policy and Research Department.

One of the lifestories interviewed is Winnie, a cleaner in her forties in Middlesbrough. Winnie said: 'I struggle, really struggle because by the time I pay my bills, gas, electric and water rates, TV, all that I’m left with is a couple of pounds that’s it - I wanted to work. If I didn’t work I think I’d go crazy. I mean, to be honest, somebody in my situation would be better off on benefits.'

Richard, who was in his thirties and unemployed when he was interviewed, said: 'Just jumping from job to job is no way to go. I just want something with a bit of job security where maybes I can buy my own house in the future - just a job I can call my own, rather than looking for one all the time or just jumping from job to job.'

Professor MacDonald concluded: 'Exposing the myth of the ‘welfare scrounger’ is the first step to better informed debate and policy. Better paid and more lasting jobs – and a welfare system that promised social security not greater insecurity – would have done much to improve our interviewees’ lives.'

Professor Guy Standing, author of The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, said: 'This book is about one important part of the growing precariat, those who have fallen out of old working-class communities. It should make people sad and angry. It is a great corrective to the utilitarian bias exhibited by mainstream politicians. It should be widely read.'

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Professor Shildrick comments on the Guardian website