Limited and Limiting Conversations about the Poor: Elizabethan Prescriptions to Poverty in the Canadian Press

Authors

  • Robert Harding University of the Fraser Valley

Keywords:

Poverty, inequality, content analysis, discourse analysis, mass media

Abstract

I

In recent years, globalization has gone hand in hand with government de-regulation, resulting in an erosion of the hard-won social contract between Canadians and their government. Canadians have witnessed the dismantling of the welfare state and a gradual decline in social entitlements. Homelessness and food bank use have dramatically increased, while income security and minimum wage rates have steadily eroded due to inflation. This study of 193 news texts about poverty published in 13 Canadian newspapers in 2012 found evidence of the prominence of established and emerging poverty discourses that blame poor people for their plight or cast them in a negative light.

 

Keywords: Poverty; inequality; content analysis; critical discourse analysis; media

 

 

Résumé

Ces dernières années, la mondialisation est allée de pair avec la dérèglementation gouvernementale, entrainant une érosion du contrat social, durement acquis, entre les Canadiens et Canadiennes et leur gouvernement. Le peuple canadien a assisté au démantèlement de l'État providence, et le déclin graduel des droits sociaux. L'itinérance et l'utilisation des banques alimentaires ont augmenté de façon spectaculaire, en même temps que la sécurité du revenu et les taux du salaire minimum ont graduellement érodé en raison de l'inflation. Cette étude de 193 textes des nouvelles sur la pauvreté, publiés dans 13 journaux canadiens en 2012 a permis d'établir l'importance de discours, établis et émergent, sur la pauvreté, qui blâme les personnes pauvres pour leur situation, ou qui les présentent dans un optique négatif.

Mots clés: Pauvreté; inégalité; analyse de contenu; analyse critique du discours; média

Author Biography

Robert Harding, University of the Fraser Valley

Robert Harding is Associate Professor in the School of Social Work and Human Services at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Email: robert.harding@ufv.ca

Cover of Issue 76

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Published

2017-03-02

How to Cite

Harding, R. (2017). Limited and Limiting Conversations about the Poor: Elizabethan Prescriptions to Poverty in the Canadian Press. Canadian Review of Social Policy Revue Canadienne De Politique Sociale, 76. Retrieved from https://crsp.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/crsp/article/view/40248

Issue

Vol. 76 (2016)

Section

Articles

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