‘Struggle Street’: Re-staging the private for public consumption

Abstract

Australia has not come far in alleviating poverty since Bob Hawke declared in 1987 ‘no child would be living in poverty by 1990.’ Whether living in a house or homeless, employed or unemployed, many Australians are still living below the poverty line. This paper examines the reality TV program ‘Struggle Street’, and offers an alternative viewpoint to combat the sensationalised, voyeuristic, stereo-type represented. This cultural sociology paper investigates the impact the filming of this program had upon the stigmatised suburb of Inala, in south-west Brisbane (Australia). The use of autoethnography will draw on my own lived experience and conceptualises my reflection in regard to my personal stance which was challenged by watching local residents and their struggles.

Keywords

• ‘struggle street’
• ‘poverty porn’
• stigmatisation
• homelessness
• public housing
• sense of place
• intergenerational
• autoethnography