“Feral underclass”
Sept
6, 2011 - On this morning's
front pages we have a choice between the Guardian
on rioting "criminal
classes," and Daily
Express "fury"
over some judge's remark that squatters "are
not criminals." The Guardian reports
Kenneth Clarke's comments about a "broken
penal system" and "a feral underclass,
cut off from the mainstream in everything but
its materialism".
The Express reports
a Tory MP saying “I am outraged" (over
the judge/squatters).
In newsagents, you can sometimes observe people
tutting and/or nodding
in response to such "news". It's probably advisable
to give a wide berth to people who exhibit such
reactions.
"What is happening to our young people?
They disrespect their elders, they disobey their
parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the
streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals
are decaying. What is to become of them?"
-- Plato, 4th Century BC
Alternative headlines:
• ‘SAME AS 10YRS AGO, SAME AS 100YRS
AGO’
• ‘READ A GOOD BOOK INSTEAD’
• ‘MOVE ALONG - NOTHING TO SEE HERE’
“Scrounging families”
Sept
2, 2011 - The BBC reports
this story under the headline, 'NUMBER OF WORKLESS
HOUSEHOLDS FALLS'. The Express
goes with "SCROUNGING FAMILIES', "anger" and
"fury" - and again quotes the rightwing pressure
group, the TaxPayers'
Alliance (a regular
source of framing for the UK press).
Here's the first paragraph on the Express's
front
page (2/9/11): "ANGER at the scale
of Britain’s benefits culture erupted last
night after official figures showed there are
nearly four million households where no one
works."
So, "anger erupted" at these official
figures (from the Office
for National Statistics, ONS). Whose anger
erupted? Here's what the ONS figures actually
show (courtesy of an ONS
graph):
Note the fall in "workless households" since
1996, followed by an increase coinciding with
the recession (shaded bar). Perhaps "anger erupted"
over something else. The 4th paragraph on the
Express front
page says: "The figures yesterday
triggered renewed fury at the £180billion annual
welfare benefits bill being picked up by taxpayers."
This is the standard, misleading device of
citing the total welfare bill in a story about
the unemployed. It's misleading because only
a small fraction of this amount goes on unemployment
benefits (£6.6bn
directly in 2010; two-thirds
of the total welfare figure goes on people over
working age, and there are various
benefits for those who have jobs, and contribution-based
benefits that need to be taken into account,
etc).
(More detail and another graph here).
Alternative headlines:
• ‘ANGRY FOR THE WRONG REASONS’
• ‘TAXPAYERS ALLIANCE PRESS RELEASE No.94’
• ‘LYING BASTARDS WROTE THIS HEADLINE’
Pressure group sets UK news
Sept
4, 2011 - This "news" story
about "benefits cheats" appeared in both the
Telegraph
and Daily
Mail on 2/9/11. The story appears to
have been created (ie promoted as "news") by
the rightwing pressure group, the TaxPayers'
Alliance. (The pressure group was
also quoted on the front
page of the Express
on the same day - over a different
story.)
A spokesperson for the TaxPayers' Alliance
was quoted at length in the Mail:
"It’s shocking that so few benefits cheats
are facing serious punishment for their crimes.
If crooks think the system is a light touch,
with little or no consequences for being caught,
then they will carry on fleecing the taxpayer
without hesitation. Tougher sentences will help
to discourage would-be cheats but reforms to
the system as a whole are also needed, to make
it easier to detect scammers."
The same quote also appeared in the Telegraph.
No other sources were provided by either newspaper
for this particular "news" story.
Alternative made-up "breaking news":
• ‘BANKS STILL OWE US A TRILLION POUNDS’
• ‘WAR ON UNELECTED PRESSURE GROUPS’
How work is framed
Aug
31, 2011 - There are two
frames for work: obedience
and exchange. In the work-as-obedience
frame, there's an authority (the employer) and
there's obedience to the commands of authority
(ie work). This obedience is rewarded (pay).
In the work-as-exchange frame, work
is conceptualised as an object of value which
belongs to the worker. This is exchanged for
money.
Different consequences apply depending on the
type of framing. In the obedience frame,
the worker is expected to make personal sacrifices
to the employer. This may help to explain why,
each year, workers are giving £29
billion in total unpaid overtime to their
companies (according to TUC figures).
(Consider also that the average worker spends
139
hours a year commuting - another sacrifice).
Remember that frames function “below" consciousness,
according to the cognitive scientists. Why do
people tolerate a situation in which income
is dependent on obedience (to people they might
regard as idiots)? Perhaps it's because our
upbringing results (in most cases) in the work-as-obedience
frame being a familiar part
of our neurology (consider the paternal representation
of school/employer).
In adulthood, this work frame infantilises
us, and it's reinforced by the paternal-strictness
type of attacks on the unemployed from politicians
and media. Terms such as "workshy" and "scrounger"
don't suggest people aged 45+ who have lost
their jobs.
* Note: the above Express
front
page isn't today's - it's from our archives,
16/8/10.
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