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Council estates: Laurie Taylor explores the concept of the 'sink estate' and hears about an in-depth study of a contemporary housing estate.

Council estates: Laurie Taylor talks to Insa Lee Koch, Associate Professor in Anthropology at LSE, and author of a new study which explores the history of housing estates and the everyday lives of residents on one such estate in southern England. How did council housing turn from being a marker of social inclusion to a marker of abject failure? Also, the origins and symbolism of the ‘sink estate’, a term invented by journalists and amplified by think tanks and politicians. Tom Slater, Professor of Urban Geography at the University of Edinburgh, traces the usage of this term and the long-term impact of associating council estate residents with effluence and sewage. Revised repeat.

Producer: Jayne Egerton

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28 minutes

Last on

Mon 3 Aug 202000:15
BBC Radio 4

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GUESTS

TOM SLATER - Professor ofUrban Geography at the University of Edinburgh

INSA LEE KOCH - Associate Professor in the Law Department and Director of the Anthropology and Law Programme at the LSE

READING LIST

‘The Invention of the ‘Sink Estate’: Consequential Categorization and the UK Housing Crisis’ by Tom Slater (The Sociological Review, 2018)

‘Personalizing the State: An Anthropology of Law, Politics, and Welfare in Austerity Britain’ by Insa Lee Koch (OUP, 2018)

Broadcasts

  • Wed 9 Oct 201916:00
    BBC Radio 4
  • Mon 14 Oct 201900:15
    BBC Radio 4
  • Wed 29 Jul 202016:00
    BBC Radio 4
  • Mon 3 Aug 202000:15
    BBC Radio 4

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