Menu Expand
Cut Out

Cut Out

Jeremy Seabrook

(2016)

Additional Information

Book Details

Abstract

Britain's welfare state, one of the greatest achievements of our post-war reconstruction, was regarded as the cornerstone of modern society. Today, that cornerstone is wilfully being dismantled by a succession of governments, with horrifying consequences. The establishment paints pictures of so-called 'benefit scroungers', the disabled, the sickly and the old.

In Cut Out: Living Without Welfare, Jeremy Seabrook speaks to people whose support from the state - for whatever reason - is now being withdrawn, rendering their lives unsustainable. In turns disturbing, eye-opening, and ultimately humanistic, these accounts reveal the reality behind the headlines, and the true nature of British politics today.

Published in partnership with the Left Book Club.
'For half a century, in one delicately textured study after another, Seabrook has established himself as perhaps Britain's finest anatomist of class, deindustrialisation, migration and the spiritual consequences of neoliberalism'
Sukhdev Sandhu, Guardian
'Giving a voice to the many people who have become increasingly isolated and unsupported in their struggle to survive, this is a useful resource for activists campaigning for social justice and against the government's cuts'
Peace News

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Cover Cover
Contents v
Series Preface vii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
Welfare cuts: the wider context 11
Being there: a sense of place 20
The fall of industrial male labour 30
Benefit fraud 38
A fate foretold 45
Sheltered accommodation 52
Zubeida 55
Azma 60
Kareema 64
Born at the wrong time 69
Abigail 73
Adele and Clifford 79
Graham Chinnery: zero hours 84
Andrea 88
Carl Hendricks 92
Arif Hossein 96
The idea of reform 105
People with disability 115
Amanda 119
Belfort: survival 127
Lorraine: in the benefits labyrinth 132
Jayne Durham 140
Paula 144