Homeownership and Symbolic Boundaries: Exclusion of Disadvantaged Non-homeowners in the Homeowner Nation of Norway

Abstract

In this article, I introduce the notion of symbolic boundaries to the study of homeownership. Data for the article are qualitative interviews with ‘housing strugglers’ in two cities in Norway, a ‘homeowner nation’. The social categories in question are refugees, people with drug and/or mental health problems and the ‘déclassé’. The analysis reveals patterns that are familiar from studies of homeowner countries; homeownership is associated with safety/security, freedom/autonomy, savings and belonging. Each of these values is explored, and from this examination, I show how homeownership constitutes a symbolic boundary between the ‘worthy’ and ‘less worthy’, and ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’. Disadvantaged non-homeowners, who struggle for security and autonomy in private renting or social housing, often find that their exclusion from homeownership is associated with a perceived lack of moral worth and dignity, and with symbolic exclusion.