Research Paper: Tory austerity caused ‘social murder’

In the Mirror newspaper, an academic has raised an uncomfortable point – that such a high degree of social stress has been unleashed on the poor through Tory austerity policies where preventable death can be directly attributed. At TruePublica we have published articles by our media partners and contributors about this escalating crisis. The author of this research concludes that austerity – a Tory ideology, not an economic model is nothing else other than ‘social murder.’

 

The academic paper claims that Tory austerity has caused “social murder.” The damning Victorian-era phrase has been revived to describe years of benefit cuts, the benefit cap and ‘fit-for-work’ tests under the government since 2010. Demanding “fundamental change” in welfare policy, its author argues “violence” has been inflicted on the poor to “enrich a small elite”. The 21-page article appears in the journal Critical Social Policy and was written by Dr Chris Grover, head of the sociology department at Lancaster University.”

 

• Research claims there were an extra six suicides for every 10,000 work capability assessments, known as ‘fit-for-work’ tests
• Increasing numbers of people dying of malnutrition; and increasing numbers of homeless people are dying on the streets or in hostels
• The state is both the protector of working-class people from harm and the facilitator of social murder.
• Citing a rise in benefit sanctions and increased poverty, Dr Grover wrote: “Social security ‘austerity’ can be understood as structural violence.

 

Read the article HERE

 

 

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