Self-help and Mutual Aid in Deprived Urban Neighbourhoods: Some Lessons from Southampton

Abstract

This paper evaluates self-help and mutual aid as tools for tackling social exclusion and promoting social cohesion in deprived urban neighbourhoods. Highlighting the rationales for using self-help and mutual aid to combat social exclusion and cohesion and then drawing upon case-study evidence from a deprived neighbourhood in Southampton to investigate their nature and extent as well as the barriers preventing their usage, it finds that although self-help and mutual aid are crucial and growing components of household work practices, no-earner households are unable to benefit from this work to the same extent as employed households. Consequently, the paper proposes ways in which the barriers that prevent these households from participating in such activities can be overcome.