The Harms of State, Free-Market Common Sense and COVID-19
The markedly high levels of preventable death and injury from COVID-19 in the UK have been refracted by government appeals to “British common-sense” in response to the crisis. We critically explore this appeal as a generator of harm continuous with free-market common-sense (FMCS) that stretches back...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Pluto Journals
2021-03-01
|
| Series: | State Crime |
| Online Access: | https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/statecrime.10.1.0170 |
| _version_ | 1797833841213177856 |
|---|---|
| author | Roy Coleman Beka Mullin-McCandlish |
| author_facet | Roy Coleman Beka Mullin-McCandlish |
| author_sort | Roy Coleman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The markedly high levels of preventable death and injury from COVID-19 in the UK have been refracted by government appeals to “British common-sense” in response to the crisis. We critically explore this appeal as a generator of harm continuous with free-market common-sense (FMCS) that stretches back to the start of the 1980s and the Thatcherite assault on state protections, “enemies within” and expertise in the public realm, driving and legitimating a broad landscape of harm under neoliberal restructuring. This is the context for understanding government responses to COVID-19 and the Grenfell fire, both of which have resulted in avoidable death and injury and both of which illustrate the role of “common-sense” in the demonisation and blaming of the victims of state violence along with a deligitimation of expertise in public health. Following Gramsci's conceptualisation of common-sense and its role in cultivating a never-guaranteed consensus for the continuance of capitalist state power, we explore the emergence of Gramsci's “good sense” in the current juncture and its challenge to the harms of state that FMCS has generated. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T14:29:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8b6d1a5333a14a88af2859b1d2e4c5c3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2046-6056 2046-6064 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T14:29:30Z |
| publishDate | 2021-03-01 |
| publisher | Pluto Journals |
| record_format | Article |
| series | State Crime |
| spelling | doaj.art-8b6d1a5333a14a88af2859b1d2e4c5c32023-05-03T16:18:47ZengPluto JournalsState Crime2046-60562046-60642021-03-0110117018810.13169/statecrime.10.1.0170The Harms of State, Free-Market Common Sense and COVID-19Roy Coleman0Beka Mullin-McCandlish1The Open UniversityUniversity of LiverpoolThe markedly high levels of preventable death and injury from COVID-19 in the UK have been refracted by government appeals to “British common-sense” in response to the crisis. We critically explore this appeal as a generator of harm continuous with free-market common-sense (FMCS) that stretches back to the start of the 1980s and the Thatcherite assault on state protections, “enemies within” and expertise in the public realm, driving and legitimating a broad landscape of harm under neoliberal restructuring. This is the context for understanding government responses to COVID-19 and the Grenfell fire, both of which have resulted in avoidable death and injury and both of which illustrate the role of “common-sense” in the demonisation and blaming of the victims of state violence along with a deligitimation of expertise in public health. Following Gramsci's conceptualisation of common-sense and its role in cultivating a never-guaranteed consensus for the continuance of capitalist state power, we explore the emergence of Gramsci's “good sense” in the current juncture and its challenge to the harms of state that FMCS has generated.https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/statecrime.10.1.0170 |
| spellingShingle | Roy Coleman Beka Mullin-McCandlish The Harms of State, Free-Market Common Sense and COVID-19 State Crime |
| title | The Harms of State, Free-Market Common Sense and COVID-19 |
| title_full | The Harms of State, Free-Market Common Sense and COVID-19 |
| title_fullStr | The Harms of State, Free-Market Common Sense and COVID-19 |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Harms of State, Free-Market Common Sense and COVID-19 |
| title_short | The Harms of State, Free-Market Common Sense and COVID-19 |
| title_sort | harms of state free market common sense and covid 19 |
| url | https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/statecrime.10.1.0170 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT roycoleman theharmsofstatefreemarketcommonsenseandcovid19 AT bekamullinmccandlish theharmsofstatefreemarketcommonsenseandcovid19 AT roycoleman harmsofstatefreemarketcommonsenseandcovid19 AT bekamullinmccandlish harmsofstatefreemarketcommonsenseandcovid19 |