Scroungers, spongers, parasites ...



These are just are some of the
terms that are typically used, with increasing frequency, to describe the most
vulnerable in our society, whether they be the sick, the disabled, or the
unemployed. Long a popular scapegoat for all manner of social ills, under
austerity we've seen hostility towards benefit claimants reach new levels of
hysteria, with the `undeserving poor' blamed for everything from crime to even
rising levels of child abuse.



While the tabloid press has
played its role in fuelling this hysteria, the proliferation of social media
has added a disturbing new dimension to this process, spreading and reinforcing
scare stories, while normalising the perception of poverty as a form of
`deviancy' that runs contrary to the neoliberal agenda. Provocative and illuminating,
Scroungers explores and analyses the
ways in which the poor are portrayed both in print and online, placing these
attitudes in a wider breakdown of social trust and community cohesion.