The Shame Game: Overturning the Toxic Poverty Narrative

by Mary O'Hara

Overview

What does it mean to be poor in Britain and America? For decades the primary narrative about poverty in both countries is that it has been caused by personal flaws or ‘bad life decisions’ rather than policy choices or economic inequality. This misleading account has become deeply embedded in the public consciousness with serious ramifications for how financially vulnerable people are seen, spoken about and treated.

Drawing on a two-year multi-platform initiative, this book by award-winning journalist and author Mary O’Hara, asks how we can overturn this portrayal once and for all. Crucially, she turns to the real experts to try to find answers – the people who live it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781447349266
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	02/27/2020
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Mary O’Hara is an award-winning journalist, author and producer. Her journalism appears in publications including The Guardian and Mosaic Science. She is the author of two books: The Shame Game: Overturning the Toxic Poverty Narrative (2020) & Austerity Bites: A Journey to the Sharp End of Cuts in the UK (2014) and is founder of the multi-platform anti-poverty initiative, Project Twist-It. Mary has directed/produced short films, run a comedy club, been a Fulbright Scholar at UC Berkeley and a producer and consultant on Getting Curious podcast with Jonathan Van Ness. In 2020 she was named Best Foreign Columnist at the Southern California Journalism Awards.

Table of Contents

PART I : The inconvenient truth: poverty is real

A short prologue

Introduction

1 Who are these ‘poor’ people anyway? Being on the breadline in Britain

2 What? There are poor people in the richest nation on earth?

PART II: Turning the screw on poor people: shame, stigma and cementing of a toxic poverty narrative

3 A twisted tale: evolution of a the poverty narrative

4 Lights, camera, vilification: the narrative in action

5 The games we play: weaponising the narrative

6 Shame on you: making the toxic narrative stick

PART III: Flipping the script: challenging the narrative war on the poor

7 Feeling it: the truth about living in poverty

8 Changing times: fighting poverty, not the poor

9 New generation: young people writing their own script

10 Altered images: constructing a new narrative

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"In a time of extreme social and economic division, Mary O'Hara lifts the lid on who truly benefits from keeping us divided and how we can flip the script of poverty to make a fairer society for all. A powerful and important book." Mahsuda Snaith, author of How to Find Home

"I worked with Mary, and she sees the potential of talent and magic in every kid and every adult. This book explores the absolute travesty of blaming each other." Conrad Murray, BAC Beatbox Academy

“Rich people should be required to read this book and poor people should be allowed to. I have rarely seen a more broad and beautiful picture of people who have done more with less than this book. O’Hara has woven a rich tapestry of joy and terror and talent and lost opportunities and the picture she draws is the most comprehensive description of poverty I’ve seen yet.” Linda Tirado, journalist and author of 'Hand to mouth'

"A necessary book in divisive times." Jameela Jamil, actress and activist

“At a time when people who experience poverty are stigmatised in the arts and media on a daily basis, Mary O'Hara's illuminating book presents a powerful condemnation of the shaming narratives that target the most vulnerable in our society.” Paul Sng, Filmmaker

"Following up on Austerity Bites, Mary O’Hara shows us why poverty sucks. Not just for the obvious reasons of struggle and deprivation, but because poverty is produced by a specific style of politics that revels in the shame of others, a politics where the US and the UK are past masters." Mark Blyth, Brown Universityand author of Austerity: The history of a dangerous idea

"The Shame Game is the book we need right now. Real stories, by people who have lived that story, smashing apart the divisive narratives around poverty that are so damaging to all of us." Kerry Hudson, author of Lowborn

Editorial Reviews

‘’In The Shame Game, O’Hara dips into her own life to explore poverty and how it’s portrayed in the United States and Britain.’’ Washington Post

Washington Post

Given the tsunami of economic insecurity unleashed by Covid-19, we have an unprecedented opportunity to further challenge the toxic narratives O’Hara so effectively skewers here.” Prospect Magazine

"An exceptional book...a must read and so relevant to the times we are living in now" Nursing Times

From the Publisher

"A welcome addition to all those who reject the ‘toxic poverty narrative’. . . . Detailed, hard-hitting and thoughtful. . . . We need books such as The Shame Game to remind ourselves that being poor is not a self-choice but something that is inflicted by those who hold the levers of power and wealth.

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A necessary book in divisive times.

actor and activist Jameela Jamil

The Shame Game illuminates the disparagement that the poor confront in a prosperous America. . . [and] points to our collective need for better social supports, including cheaper medical care, improved access to education and even periodic government cash giveaways through programs like universal basic income. . . . As O’Hara puts it: “There is a long history of the poorest being shunned and shamed and ‘kept in their place,’ but there is also a history of these practices being challenged with genuine successes. . . . Ultimately, finding solutions to poverty, including ending the blaming and shaming of the poorest among us, rests with all of us.””

The Washington Post

Rich people should be required to read this book and poor people should be allowed to. I have rarely seen a more broad and beautiful picture of people who have done more with less than this book. O’Hara has woven a rich tapestry of joy and terror and talent and lost opportunities and the picture she draws is the most comprehensive description of poverty I’ve seen yet.

author of Hand to Mouth Linda Tirado

O'Hara sees the potential of talent and magic in every kid and every adult. This book explores the absolute travesty of blaming each other.

BAC Beatbox Academy Conrad Murray

In a time of extreme social and economic division, O'Hara lifts the lid on who truly benefits from keeping us divided and how we can flip the script of poverty to make a fairer society for all. A powerful and important book.

author of How to Find Home Mahsuda Snaith

It is rare that the central argument of a book is so eerily transformed by events. If it had not been for the coronavirus, Mary O’Hara’s The Shame Game would have been respectfully received and tidily shelved alongside several other stringent assessments of the ugly politics of austerity. . . . In our new world, this reads less a study of them and us, than potentially a book about us all.

Prospect Magazine

A welcome addition to all those who reject the ‘toxic poverty narrative’. . . . Detailed, hard-hitting and thoughtful. . . . We need books such as The Shame Game to remind ourselves that being poor is not a self-choice but something that is inflicted by those who hold the levers of power and wealth.

VIEW Digital