Resistance, Protest and Austerity: How do Working Class People 'Fight Back', and Against What?

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This proposal seeks to explore the relationship between austerity, social inequality and the everyday geographies of resistance. It will explore the following questions: how do working class people experience and understand austerity and inequality? How do people understand and enact forms of resistance to austerity and inequality? What barriers do people face when engaging in resistance, such as ill health and fatigue? Do concepts of social class and place enable people to engage with, and articulate their resistance? To answer these questions, this research will utilise participant observation at Thrive, a grassroots community organising charity in Stockton-on-Tees. It will also explore a range of anti-austerity based protest organisations and activities through the use of participant observation and interviews. This research is based in Stockton-on-Tees, a town in the North East of England with high levels of deprivation, unemployment and large health inequalities. Academics have already begun to consider the role that austerity is having upon the health of Stockton-on-Tees residents, and this research seeks to build upon this by examining how working class communities within the area are resisting inequality and austerity.