Policy Press

The Shame Game

Overturning the Toxic Poverty Narrative

By Mary O'Hara

Published

Feb 27, 2020

Page count

232 pages

ISBN

978-1447349266

Dimensions

216 x 138 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Feb 27, 2020

Page count

232 pages

ISBN

978-1447349280

Dimensions

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Feb 27, 2020

Page count

232 pages

ISBN

978-1447349280

Dimensions

Imprint

Policy Press
The Shame Game

What does it mean to be poor in Britain and America? For decades the primary narrative about poverty in both countries is that it has been caused by personal flaws or ‘bad life decisions’ rather than policy choices or economic inequality. This misleading account has become deeply embedded in the public consciousness with serious ramifications for how financially vulnerable people are seen, spoken about and treated.

Drawing on a two-year multi-platform initiative, this book by award-winning journalist and author Mary O’Hara, asks how we can overturn this portrayal once and for all. Crucially, she turns to the real experts to try to find answers – the people who live it.

Mary O’Hara is an award-winning journalist, author and producer. Her journalism appears in publications including The Guardian and Mosaic Science. She is the author of two books: The Shame Game: Overturning the Toxic Poverty Narrative (2020) & Austerity Bites: A Journey to the Sharp End of Cuts in the UK (2014) and is founder of the multi-platform anti-poverty initiative, Project Twist-It. Mary has directed/produced short films, run a comedy club, been a Fulbright Scholar at UC Berkeley and a producer and consultant on Getting Curious podcast with Jonathan Van Ness. In 2020 she was named Best Foreign Columnist at the Southern California Journalism Awards.

PART I : The inconvenient truth: poverty is real

A short prologue

Introduction

1 Who are these ‘poor’ people anyway? Being on the breadline in Britain

2 What? There are poor people in the richest nation on earth?

PART II: Turning the screw on poor people: shame, stigma and cementing of a toxic poverty narrative

3 A twisted tale: evolution of a the poverty narrative

4 Lights, camera, vilification: the narrative in action

5 The games we play: weaponising the narrative

6 Shame on you: making the toxic narrative stick

PART III: Flipping the script: challenging the narrative war on the poor

7 Feeling it: the truth about living in poverty

8 Changing times: fighting poverty, not the poor

9 New generation: young people writing their own script

10 Altered images: constructing a new narrative