Victims of Austerity or Feckless Freeloaders? The Stereotypes of the Deserving and Undeserving Poor in the Debate on Britain’s Food Bank Users

Abstract

Once a rare sight, food banks are fast becoming an established feature of Britain’s social security system, their number having increased from around a hundred in 2010 to over two thousand at present. In 2017, as many as 1.2 million emergency food parcels were given out to individuals and families, with demand continuing to grow. The unprecedented dependence of British households on donated food is a disturbing phenomenon raising many questions not only about the government’s welfare policies but also about poverty and the poor themselves. Using framing analysis, this paper aims to explore the ways in which food bank users are portrayed in the public sphere, with special emphasis on media coverage and political discourse across the left-right spectrum. The competing depictions of food bank users are shown as a continuation of the age-old debate on the causes of poverty and its understanding as either individual or systemic failure.

Článek se zabývá fenoménem potravinových bank v Británii, jejichž počet po roce 2010 v důsledku reforem sociálního systému iniciovaných konzervativní stranou raketově vzrostl. Jeho cílem je analyzovat diskurz o klientech potravinových bank, ať již v britském tisku nebo v projevech britských politiků, a sledovat, zda a jak se v něm odráží stereotyp "zasluhujících a nezasluhujících chudých", který je již po staletí charakteristických znakem debaty o chudobě a jejích příčinách, spatřovaných na individuální či systémové úrovni.