Veiled suffering? The social meanings of marginality and vulnerability in an English town

• In Event: Social Dimensions of Fear of Crime

Abstract

We have conducted two studies of the same relatively safe and moderately prosperous town - Macclesfield in north-west England – 25 years apart. Our study of crime-talk in the town, conducted from 1994-96, explored how worries about crime featured in local social relations (Girling et al. 2000, Crime and Social Change in Middle England). We returned in 2019, following a quarter of a century of technological, socio-economic, cultural and political change, with a view to using the town as a site for exploring what it means to be and feel secure in Britain today. In so doing, we have discovered or observed various forms of social marginality and suffering in the town. These include assorted private harms (domestic abuse, isolation, scamming, drug addiction and exploitation) and vulnerability in public spaces (homelessness, drug use/dealing, neglected and vulnerable youth). Managing the town’s social margins is central to the quotidian work of local statutory and voluntary agencies, including the police. But how do those living in relative comfort and safety in this town perceive and respond to social suffering? How does vulnerability register in people’s consciousness and sense of place, and what demands for governance does it provoke? In this paper, we describe the competing repertoires that marginality provokes (care, concern, attention, discomfort, disgust, denial) with a view to deciphering the place of social suffering in local narrations of the present condition and future prospects of the town and the wider world.

Authors

• Evi Girling, Keele University

• Ben Bradford, University College London

• Ian Loader, University of Oxford

• Richard Sparks, University of Edinburgh