“Harsh Realism”

Abstract

In the aftermath of the 2011 UK riots, two main themes emerged in public discourse: (a) that the riots were criminal and materialistic in intent and linked to the reality television driven “miswanting” of poor youth and (b) that the riots were a manifestation of a national crisis generated by the absence of public and civic responsibility among (female) denizens of public housing estates. The author argues that, far from telling us about the cultures of poor youth, reality television programs, notably those produced by the BBC, elucidate the agenda of political elites driving “Austerity Britain” to “harden” the views of British citizens against the poor and marginalized. She explores the new harsh realism of Neighbourhood Watched identifying a shift from the earlier left-wing concerns of the British social-realist movement, toward a right-wing sensibility, which has coincided with significant changes to state policy toward the most vulnerable segments of Britain’s population.