Residents Speak Out: Re-Appraising Home Ownership, Property Rights and Place Attachment in a Risk Society

Abstract

Allied to notions of late modernity, Ulrich Beck’s “risk society” has found relevance in light of recent technological and global economic crises. By means of focus group research undertaken in Queensland, Australia, this article explores the relation of such concepts and dislocations to home ownership, property rights and place attachment, asking to what extent home ownership can be seen as a depository and remedy for the consequences of Beckian uncertainty. The findings are that, whereas the Maslovian attributes of safety, security and belongingness continue to be the root of contemporary home ownership, its meaning is elaborated when higher-order concepts such as lifestyle, identity, social capital and trust, and ontological security are entered into the analysis. Moreover, the traditional use value of a home is now intertwined with exchange value, though the latter is interpreted not proactively but more in a defensive sense.