The politicisation of home

Abstract

Chapter 1 outlines the concept of home and its political relevance. I begin by drawing on the work of feminist theorists to argue that the home is a highly political site. The chapter then turns to the interrelated concepts of stigma, precarity and domicide – the intentional destruction of home. I outline how I have extended the term to consider ‘socio-symbolic’ domicide – describing how the concept of home is manipulated and moralised to create narratives of people who are ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ of it. The chapter then traces the moralisation of home in the UK context. I focus on Margaret Thatcher’s premiership and the neoliberal turn of the 1970s and 80s. Through a discussion of Thatcher’s housing policy, I highlight how the concept of home was re-narrativised in this period, with a focus on private homeownership as the key to a successful home life, and therefore a successful nation. I go on to examine how this fundamental ideological shift continued through subsequent governments, with a focus on how this new vision of home was utilised by David Cameron’s Coalition/Conservative governments in the context of austerity. Finally, the chapter concludes by considering the continued usage of the home as a political tool.