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Portraying Poverty: The economics and ethics of factual welfare television

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Portraying Poverty: The economics and ethics of factual welfare television. / De Benedictis, Sara; Allen, Kim; Jensen, Tracey Louisa.
In: Cultural Sociology, Vol. 11, No. 3, 01.09.2017, p. 337-358.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Harvard

De Benedictis, S, Allen, K & Jensen, TL 2017, 'Portraying Poverty: The economics and ethics of factual welfare television', Cultural Sociology, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 337-358. https://doi.org/10.1177/1749975517712132

APA

Vancouver

De Benedictis S, Allen K, Jensen TL. Portraying Poverty: The economics and ethics of factual welfare television. Cultural Sociology. 2017 Sept 1;11(3):337-358. Epub 2017 Jul 13. doi: 10.1177/1749975517712132

Author

De Benedictis, Sara ; Allen, Kim ; Jensen, Tracey Louisa. / Portraying Poverty : The economics and ethics of factual welfare television. In: Cultural Sociology. 2017 ; Vol. 11, No. 3. pp. 337-358.

Bibtex

@article{dcba17eaf254477c9f518e19d3ffd838,
title = "Portraying Poverty: The economics and ethics of factual welfare television",
abstract = "Since 2013 there has been an explosion of a new genre of factual programming on British television that centres on the everyday lives of people claiming benefits. The emergence of Factual Welfare Television (FWT) has coincided with intensifying public and political debates about poverty and the British welfare state, and has proved a deeply controversial and contested genre. While programme-makers have argued that FWT fulfils a public service mandate to inform audiences, critics have accused producers of making inaccurate, provocative and unethical television. Sociological enquiries into FWT have focused on the representations within these programmes and audience reception, arguing that these contribute to hardening anti-welfare sentiment. This article presents a complementary and urgent line of enquiry into FWT, locating it squarely within the conditions of its production by including questions of cultural labour, diversity in the workforce, and increasing competition and deregulation within broadcasting. We argue that market logics governing broadcasting discipline cultural workers and contribute to the production of reductive and stigmatising representations of social class and poverty. In doing so, we offer new insights into relationships between television production, representation and – consequently – consumption.",
author = "{De Benedictis}, Sara and Kim Allen and Jensen, {Tracey Louisa}",
year = "2017",
month = sep,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1177/1749975517712132",
language = "English",
volume = "11",
pages = "337--358",
journal = "Cultural Sociology",
issn = "1749-9763",
publisher = "SAGE Publications Ltd",
number = "3",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Portraying Poverty

T2 - The economics and ethics of factual welfare television

AU - De Benedictis, Sara

AU - Allen, Kim

AU - Jensen, Tracey Louisa

PY - 2017/9/1

Y1 - 2017/9/1

N2 - Since 2013 there has been an explosion of a new genre of factual programming on British television that centres on the everyday lives of people claiming benefits. The emergence of Factual Welfare Television (FWT) has coincided with intensifying public and political debates about poverty and the British welfare state, and has proved a deeply controversial and contested genre. While programme-makers have argued that FWT fulfils a public service mandate to inform audiences, critics have accused producers of making inaccurate, provocative and unethical television. Sociological enquiries into FWT have focused on the representations within these programmes and audience reception, arguing that these contribute to hardening anti-welfare sentiment. This article presents a complementary and urgent line of enquiry into FWT, locating it squarely within the conditions of its production by including questions of cultural labour, diversity in the workforce, and increasing competition and deregulation within broadcasting. We argue that market logics governing broadcasting discipline cultural workers and contribute to the production of reductive and stigmatising representations of social class and poverty. In doing so, we offer new insights into relationships between television production, representation and – consequently – consumption.

AB - Since 2013 there has been an explosion of a new genre of factual programming on British television that centres on the everyday lives of people claiming benefits. The emergence of Factual Welfare Television (FWT) has coincided with intensifying public and political debates about poverty and the British welfare state, and has proved a deeply controversial and contested genre. While programme-makers have argued that FWT fulfils a public service mandate to inform audiences, critics have accused producers of making inaccurate, provocative and unethical television. Sociological enquiries into FWT have focused on the representations within these programmes and audience reception, arguing that these contribute to hardening anti-welfare sentiment. This article presents a complementary and urgent line of enquiry into FWT, locating it squarely within the conditions of its production by including questions of cultural labour, diversity in the workforce, and increasing competition and deregulation within broadcasting. We argue that market logics governing broadcasting discipline cultural workers and contribute to the production of reductive and stigmatising representations of social class and poverty. In doing so, we offer new insights into relationships between television production, representation and – consequently – consumption.

U2 - 10.1177/1749975517712132

DO - 10.1177/1749975517712132

M3 - Journal article

VL - 11

SP - 337

EP - 358

JO - Cultural Sociology

JF - Cultural Sociology

SN - 1749-9763

IS - 3

ER -