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.

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).

Reviews

'An analytical masterpiece, describing what has happened to our communities as a result of austerity'

-- John McDonnell MP, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer

'A dazzling collection of short essays which detail how state violence is unfolding in Britain on multiple scales and in myriad forms'

-- Imogen Tyler, Professor of Sociology at Lancaster University, author of Revolting Subjects: Social Abjection and Resistance in Neoliberal Britain (Zed, 2013)

'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'

-- Chunky Mark, Artist Taxi Driver

'This book leaves the reader in no doubt that government actions have the power to make or break lives and communities'

-- Lynsey Hanley, The Guardian, and Author of Estates

'A well-written and shocking expose of the institutional violence of the state'

-- Morning Star

'Eye opening ... enlightening and an education'

-- The Canary

'An important book'

-- Counterfire


Awards
Short-listed for Bread and Roses Prize 2018 (UK).



Book Information
ISBN 9780745399485
Author Vickie Cooper
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Pluto Press
Publisher Pluto Press
Weight(grams) 328g