The Application of Hirschman’s Exit-voice Framework to Housing Studies: A Review and Some Ways Forward

Abstract

Albert Hirschman’s 1970 work Exit, Voice and Loyalty, which considers the interaction of responses to dissatisfaction with an organization, product or country, has been drawn on by social scientists to look at concepts as diverse as health care provision, marital relationships, shareholder activism and strike activity. This paper reviews ways that the exit–voice framework has been drawn on to discuss issues related to housing: first, homeowners’ responses to neighbourhood decline and homeless people’s response to policing of their space; second, council tenants’ response to opportunities to buy their council home or to become involved in participation schemes; and third, private tenants’ responses to dissatisfaction in their homes. We suggest that this work could be extended through closer attention to the interaction of different types of exit and voice. Finally, we suggest that the exit–voice framework could be used to give insight into the development and influence of tenant collective voice in different types of housing systems.