Policing the Neoliberal Crisis’: An Introduction to my PhD Research

In ‘Policing the Neoliberal Crisis’ Holly White utilises the theoretical insights of Stuart Hall to explore how neoliberal elites have seized upon the current economic crisis to legitimise an increasingly punitive welfare system and a broader ideological narrative of a ‘ war against the poor’. Drawing upon her experience as a volunteer for the Citizens Advice Bureau, Holly White makes explicit connections between changes in the macro political economy and micro policy developments in the UK concerning homelessness and the ‘Bedroom tax’. As her conclusion indicates, her work is interventionist, focusing upon the current operationalization of neoliberal hegemony and how alternative critical imaginaries and social movements are being either nurtured or suppressed