ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the significance of ‘place’ for social policy. More specifically, it examines the way popular perceptions of place – fostered mainly by the media, politicians and academics, reflecting middle-class concerns – have influenced social policy interventions in Britain. The argument presented is that policy reactions to these perceptions of places, and the people who live in them, have not only failed to address the causes of difficult neighbourhood circumstances but also exacerbated the marginalisation and suffering of disadvantaged groups. Drawing on Stanley Cohen’s classic study of ‘deviant’ groups (‘folk devils’) and society’s reaction to them (‘moral panics’), this chapter will illustrate how ideological constructions of ‘dangerous’ places and their ‘dangerous’ residents have underpinned social policies that have systematically sustained socio-spatial differentiation and disadvantage. It is argued that these symbolic constructions largely reflect the broader logics at work in western society – namely, the perpetuation of capitalism and the interests of the established order through disciplinary power and control. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the possibilities for a transformative community politics out of which more equitable social and spatial arrangements might emerge.
