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What does it mean to be poor in Britain and America? For decades the primary narrative about poverty in both countries is that it has been caused by personal flaws or ‘bad life decisions’ rather than policy choices or economic inequality. This misleading account has become deeply embedded in the public consciousness with serious ramifications for how financially vulnerable people are seen, spoken about and treated.
Drawing on a two-year multi-platform initiative, this book by award-winning journalist and author Mary O’Hara, asks how we can overturn this portrayal once and for all. Crucially, she turns to the real experts to try to find answers – the people who live it.
PART I : The inconvenient truth: poverty is real
A short prologue
Introduction
1 Who are these ‘poor’ people anyway? Being on the breadline in Britain
2 What? There are poor people in the richest nation on earth?
PART II: Turning the screw on poor people: shame, stigma and cementing of a toxic poverty narrative
3 A twisted tale: evolution of a the poverty narrative
4 Lights, camera, vilification: the narrative in action
5 The games we play: weaponising the narrative
6 Shame on you: making the toxic narrative stick
PART III: Flipping the script: challenging the narrative war on the poor
7 Feeling it: the truth about living in poverty
8 Changing times: fighting poverty, not the poor
9 New generation: young people writing their own script
10 Altered images: constructing a new narrative