Housing Histories and Fragmented Middle-class Careers: The Case of Marginal Professionals in London Council Housing

Abstract

This paper contributes towards understanding the dynamics of employment and housing among the middle classes with reference to a study of 'marginal professionals' living in London council housing. Using employment and housing history data drawn from interviews with professionals who rented flats from Camden Council in inner London, it is argued that they constitute an economically marginal part of the new middle class, that section of the middle classes typically associated with inner-city gentrification. The professionals in council housing were a mixture of self-employed artists and public sector welfare and educational employees, and the occupational career paths of this mainly female group tended to take fragmented forms. The paper also demonstrates the relevance of political and social values for understanding the location of these professionals within the London housing market. It is suggested that although the presence of the middle classes among council tenants in inner London boroughs such as Camden is likely to decline, the socio-economic and demographic factors underpinning the creation of marginal professionals are likely to persist.

Differentiated Residential Orientations of Class Fractions

“…What is particularly emphasised in this literature is the distinction between middle classes in inner-urban environments and middle classes in suburban orientations. Middle class professionals living in urban areas, the agents of gentrification, are argued to constitute a specific new fraction of the middle classes who attempt to set themselves apart from the traditional middle classes in the suburbs (Bridge, 2001;Robson, 2001, 2003b;May, 1996;Watt, 2005). It is generally argued that some fractions of the middle classes have a particular urban lifestyle with specific patterns of consumption, types of employment, housing preferences and liberal political attitudes (Ley, 2003).…”

Hysteresis: Understanding the Housing Aspirations Gap

“…I think it has its downsides and I don't think it's the Holy Grail but what I think is the alternative isn't that good because they are not going to get into social housing and I don't believe in the private rented sector' (Female, home owner, 45 -54 age group). Watt's (2005) luxury which seems to be out of reach for our respondents who also had high levels of cultural capital (school teachers, architects, academics and third sector managers) but no financial means by which to purchase a property in the current market. Our research corresponds with Watt's (2005) to the extent that those interviewed who do have high levels of cultural capital, but 'do not have affluent middle-class parents who can subsidise metropolitan homeownership' (Watt 2005: 379) Acknowledging the limits of our sample, an assertion can nonetheless be made regarding recent changes in the relations between objective possibilities and the subjective preferences from which they arise.…”

“…Watt's (2005) luxury which seems to be out of reach for our respondents who also had high levels of cultural capital (school teachers, architects, academics and third sector managers) but no financial means by which to purchase a property in the current market. Our research corresponds with Watt's (2005) to the extent that those interviewed who do have high levels of cultural capital, but 'do not have affluent middle-class parents who can subsidise metropolitan homeownership' (Watt 2005: 379) Acknowledging the limits of our sample, an assertion can nonetheless be made regarding recent changes in the relations between objective possibilities and the subjective preferences from which they arise. Other than one interviewee who claimed to be happy in the PRS, it would appear that the tenure in Scotland is predominated by two types of tenant: those who want to own but cannot afford the deposit for a mortgage and, less evidently, those who want to rent from a social landlord but cannot access social housing due to extreme pressures on supply.…”

“…The banking crisis of 2008, caused by the extension of housing markets to US citizens, many of whom had no formal employment prospects and less chance of paying back the sums lent in mortgage loans, has, since the 'credit crunch', acted to promote rentier forms of capital accumulation around the world (Harvey 2014, Piketty 2014, Sayer 2015. This has resulted in a new relationship between housing and social class as sections of the 'middle classes' with a disproportionate volume and structure of cultural capital, a group which Watt (2005) calls 'marginal professionals', can today only dream of the homeownership opportunities which were readily available to the working classes during the period of transition from an industrial to a financially based economy. Hysteresis, we argue, represents a novel conceptual lens by which to advance this argument, and draw attention to the changing relationship between housing and class.…”

“…These works, in conjunction with the various strands of research applying Bourdieusian concepts, have contributed to the construction of a highly nuanced understanding of the complex relationships which connect social space and physical space as well as the relationship between social mobility and geographical mobility, (Savage 1988, Hamnett 1984, 1987, 1989, 1994, Hamnett and Cross 1998, Raco 2009, 2013a. This has been examined from both a working class (Forrest and Murie 1988, Cole and Furbey 1994, Allen 2007, McKenzie 2012, Paton 2013, as well as a middle class perspective (Butler and Robson 2001, 2003a, 2003b, Watt 2005, and Paton 2009). …”