Regulating Scotland's social landlords: localised resistance to technologies of performance management

McKee, K. (2009) Regulating Scotland's social landlords: localised resistance to technologies of performance management. Housing Studies, 24(2), pp. 155-171. (doi: 10.1080/02673030802704345)

Abstract

Influenced by Foucault's later work on governmentality, this paper explores the regulation of social landlords as a 'technology of performance' concerned with governing the conduct of dispersed welfare agencies and the professionals within them. This is a mode of power that is both voluntary and coercive; it seeks to realise its ambitions not through direct acts of intervention, but by promoting the responsible self-governance of autonomous subjects. Through an analysis of the regulatory framework for social landlords in Scotland, this paper highlights the creation of a performance culture that seeks to mobilise housing organisations to reconcile their local management systems and service provision to external standards, whilst simultaneously wielding punitive interventions for non-compliance. However, housing professionals are not passive in all of this, and indeed, actively challenged and resisted these top-down attempts to govern them at arm's-length.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Due to publishers embargo the full text is not available through Enlighten until September 2010.
• Keywords: Foucault, governmentality, housing governance, power, resistance, social housing.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: McKee, Dr Kimberly
• Authors: McKee, K.
• Subjects: J Political Science > JC Political theory; H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare; H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
• Research Group: Human Geography
• Journal Name: Housing Studies
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• ISSN: 1466-1810
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2009 Taylor and Francis
• First Published: First published in Housing Studies 24(2):155-171
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.