The Violence of Austerity

Austerity, a response to the aftermath of the financial crisis, continues to devastate contemporary Britain. In The Violence of Austerity, Vickie Cooper and David Whyte bring together the voices of campaigners and academics including Danny Dorling, Mary O'Hara and Rizwaan Sabir to show that rather than stimulating economic growth, austerity policies have led to a dismantling of the social systems that operated as a buffer against economic hardship, exposing austerity to be a form of systematic violence. Covering a range of famous cases of institutional violence in Britain, the book argues that police attacks on the homeless, violent evictions in the rented sector, the risks faced by people on workfare schemes, community violence in Northern Ireland and cuts to the regulation of social protection, are all being driven by reductions in public sector funding. The result is a shocking expose of the myriad ways in which austerity policies harm people in Britain.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Introduction: The Violence of Austerity - Vickie Cooper and David Whyte Part I: Deadly Welfare 1. Mental Health and Suicide - Mary O’Hara 2. Austerity and Mortality - Danny Dorling 3. Welfare Reforms and the Attack on Disabled People - John Pring 4. The Violence of Workfare - Jon Burnett and David Whyte 5. The Multiple Forms of Violence in the Asylum System - Victoria Canning 6. The Degradation and Humiliation of Young People - Emma Bond and Simon Hallsworth Part II: Poverty Amplification 7. Child Maltreatment and Child Mortality - Joanna Mack 8. Hunger and Food Poverty - Rebecca O’Connell and Laura Hamilton 9. The Deadly Impact of Fuel Poverty - Ruth London 10. The Violence of the Debtfare State - David Ellis 11. Women of Colour’s Anti-Austerity Activism - Akwugo Emejulu and Leah Bassel 12. Dismantling the Irish Peace Process - Daniel Holder Part III: State Regulation 13. Undoing Social Protection - Steve Tombs 14. Health and Safety at the Frontline of Austerity - Hilda Palmer and David Whyte 15. Environmental Degradation - Charlotte Burns and Paul Tobin 16. Fracking and State Violence - Will Jackson, Helen Monk and Joanna Gilmore 17. Domicide, Eviction and Repossession - Kirsteen Paton and Vickie Cooper 18. Austerity’s Impact on Rough Sleeping and Violence - Daniel McCulloch Part IV: State Control 19. Legalising the Violence of Austerity - Robert Knox 20. The Failure to Protect Women in the Criminal Justice System - Maureen Mansfield and Vickie Cooper 21. Austerity, Violence and Prisons - Joe Sim 22. Evicting Manchester’s Street Homeless - Steven Speed 23. Policing Anti-Austerity through the ‘War on Terror’ - Rizwaan Sabir 24. Austerity and the Production of Hate - Jon Burnett Notes on Contributors Index

About the Author :
Vickie Cooper is a Lecturer in Criminology at the Open University where she is Co-Director of HERC (Harm and Evidence Research Collaborative) and researches issues related to homelessness, criminal justice system, housing and eviction. She is the co-editor of The Violence of Austerity (Pluto, 2017). David Whyte is Professor of Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Liverpool where he researches issues related to corporate violence and corporate corruption. He is the co-editor of How Corrupt is Britain? (Pluto, 2015) and The Violence of Austerity (Pluto, 2017).

Review :
'An analytical masterpiece, describing what has happened to our communities as a result of austerity' 'A dazzling collection of short essays which detail how state violence is unfolding in Britain on multiple scales and in myriad forms' 'In this brilliant book, Vickie Cooper and David Whyte bring together the arguments that break down the sick Tory Party political violence against the people of Britain. This book shows that there is only one response to the imposition of austerity as a crude and violent political strategy, and that is to turn our anger back against the Tories' 'This book leaves the reader in no doubt that government actions have the power to make or break lives and communities' 'A well-written and shocking exposé of the institutional violence of the state' 'Eye opening ... enlightening and an education' 'An important book'