Understanding familes lived experiences of Universal Credit

This thesis explores the connection between social harm and social reproduction within the social relations and outcomes of contemporary capitalism in the UK. It contributes to the fields of social policy, sociology, criminology, and feminist political economy. The thesis demonstrates how social harm arises from various social and political relations, highlighting the harmful aspects of welfare. This occurs through the state’s attempt to manage the contradictions produced by capitalism by employing punitive measures to enforce labour discipline. This thesis argues that Universal Credit (UC) reflects historical forms of discipline yet fundamentally alters the management of labour discipline. The UC system incorporates online provisions through a partially automated IT system and an online journal, enabling the enforcement of discipline at a distance, which changes the nature and experiences of social harm. An interdisciplinary approach is adopted to understand how social harm operates through UC, resulting in four original contributions to knowledge. First, the thesis deploys a unique feminist methodology that centres on parents' experiences with the UC system. It includes 37 qualitative longitudinal interviews, 24 diary entries with 14 parents including the autoethnography via reflexive diary entries. This is through a critical evaluation of the researcher’s positionality as a researcher and recipient of UC. This combination of methods provides a novel lens for examining social harm.

The second contribution highlights how the online application alleviates emotional labour, facilitating parents' access to the UC service. The third contribution reveals that parents self-monitored their behaviours through the online account, which became an extension of their domestic responsibilities. The fourth and final contribution illustrates that parents were active agents in their lives, utilising support networks through family, friends, and Facebook groups to cope with the social harm inflicted by the states use of the UC system. These networks are termed protective harm factors, as they enable parents to mitigate social harm and manage their daily lives. Throughout the longitudinal research, all parents expressed a desire to exit the UC system; however, none were able to do so. Consequently, the thesis makes policy recommendations advocating for more holistic and compassionate approaches for parents receiving welfare, moving away from punitive measures. Lastly, the thesis advocates for more research on protective harm factors in relation to UC specifically targeting the role and implications of Facebook groups.