P. Cloke, RURAL POVERTY AND THE WELFARE-STATE - A DISCURSIVE TRANSFORMATION IN BRITAIN AND THE USA, Environment & planning A, 27(6), 1995, pp. 1001-1016
In this paper some of the issues raised in researching the 'problemati
c' of rural life-styles are discussed. It is argued that traditional n
ormative approaches to the study of deprivation and poverty need to be
supplemented by an understanding of varying social and cultural const
ructions of reality, community, living standards, and welfare. The imp
ortance of such social and cultural constructs is illustrated in a dis
cussion of the discursive transformation of previous codes, symbols, a
nd concepts of welfare and poverty during the Thatcher and Reagan eras
in Britain and the USA, respectively. In a series of contested transf
ormations, the relationship between individual, society, and state in
the provision and receipt of welfare has been redefined. Moreover, it
is suggested that there are important spatial differences between the
urban and the rural within this discursive context, with the urban con
struction of 'underclass' contrasting with rural constructions of 'idy
ll', the latter suggesting codes and symbols of self-help which negate
the need for state intervention in welfare.