The Underdeveloped Offering of Housing Ethics: New Possibilities for Housing Studies

Despite the significant presence in other disciplines, ethics remains a topic that is under-explored in a housing context. This paper posits the implications of employing a framework of housing ethics, demarcating ethics from a notion of politics. The central contention: that housing ethics already exist and structure housing systems and approaches, as evidenced in three examples from policy, theory and philosophy. This framework, with an outlined two-part grammar, illuminates the importance of descriptive claims behind the normative context that is of great interest to housing studies. Therefore, the argument presented does not just valorise the framework of housing ethics but too the necessity of philosophical engagement in the assumptions underpinning housing research, namely any foundational claims on the phenomenon of housing and the human relationship to it.

121 views

References

Arundel, R., R. Ronald 2021. ‘The False Promise of Homeownership: Homeowner Societies in an Era of Declining Access and Rising Inequality.’ Urban Studies 58(6): 1120-1140. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098019895227

Bachelard, G. 2014. The Poetics of Space. London: Penguin Classics.

Bollnow, O. F. 1961. Lived-space. Philosophy Today 5(1): 31-39.

Butler, J. 2009. Giving an Account of Oneself. New York: Fordham University Press.

Clapham, D. 2018. ‘Housing theory, housing research and housing policy.’ Housing, Theory and Society 35(2): 163-177. https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2017.1366937

Dufty-Jones, R. 2016. ‘Housing and Home.’ Pp. 453-466 in S. Springer, K. Birch, J. MacLeavy (eds.) 2016. Handbook of Neoliberalism. Milton Park: Routledge.

Falk, W. D. 1976. ‘Hume on is and ought.’ Canadian Journal of Philosophy 6(3): 359-378. https://doi.org/10.1080/00455091.1976.10716155

Fitzpatrick, S., B. Bengtsson, B. Watts 2014. ‘Rights to housing: reviewing the terrain and exploring a way forward.’ Housing, theory and society 31(4): 447-463. https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2014.923506

Fitzpatrick, S., B. Watts 2018. ‘Taking values seriously in housing studies.’ Housing, Theory and Society 35(2): 223-227. https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2017.1366941

Hume, D. 1739. A Treatise of Human Nature. London: John Noon.

Hunter, G. 1962. ‘Hume on is and ought.’ Philosophy 37(140): 148-152. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031819100036809

Iglesias, T. 2007. ‘Our Pluralist Housing Ethics and the Struggle for Affordability.’ Wake Forest L. Rev. 42: 511-595. https://ssrn.com/abstract=982647

Jacobs, K. 2019. Neoliberal Housing policy: An International Perspective. Milton Park: Routledge.

Jacobs, M. 2024. ‘After Neoliberalism: Economic Theory and Policy in the Polycrisis.’ The Political Quarterly, first published online: February 2, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.13363

Kemeny, J. 1992. Housing and Social Theory. Milton Park: Routledge.

Kimhur, B. 2020. ‘How to apply the capability approach to housing policy? Concepts, theories and challenges.’ Housing, Theory and Society 37(3): 257-277. https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2019.1706630

King, P. 2011. ‘Using Big Ideas: The Application of Political Philosophy in Housing Research.’ Housing, Theory and Society 28(2): 109-122. https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2010.522077

Lawson, J. 2018. ‘Out of the closet and into the limelight–the place of theory in housing research.’ Housing, Theory and Society, 35(2): 235-237. https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2017.1383935

Levinas, E. 1969. Totality and infinity. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press.

McCallum, S., A. Papadopoulos 2020. ‘Capabilities and housing: Questions of application.’ Housing, Theory and Society 37(3): 289-294. https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2019.1697357

Nicholls, C. M. 2010. ‘Housing, homelessness and capabilities.’ Housing, Theory and Society 27(1): 23-41. https://doi.org/10.1080/14036090902764588

Parker, M., 2003. ‘Introduction: Ethics, politics and Organizing.’ Organisation 10(2):187-203. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508403010002001

Power, E. R., T. L. Bergan 2019. ‘Care and Resistance to Neoliberal Reform in Social Housing.’ Housing, theory and society 36(4): 426-447. https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2018.1515112

Richardson, J. 2018. Place and identity: The performance of home. Milton Park: Routledge.

Rogers, D., C. McAuliffe 2023. ‘Housing’s values: Housing as an ethical urbanism.’ Environment and Planning F, first published online: June 14, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1177/26349825231178799

Ruonavaara, H. 2018. ‘Theory of housing, from housing, about housing.’ Housing, Theory and Society, 35(2): 178-192. https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2017.1347103

Ryan-Collins, J., T. Lloyd, L. Macfarlane 2017. Rethinking the Economics of Land and Housing. London: Bloomsbury.

Slattery, D., J. Nellis, K. Josifidis, A. Losonc 2013. ‘Neoclassical Economics: Science or Neoliberal Ideology?.’ European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention 10(3): 313-326. https://doi.org/10.4337/ejeep.2013.03.06

Stephens, M. 2018. ‘Housing theory: Impoverished, ethically speaking.’ Housing, Theory and Society 35(2): 246-252. https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2017.1366940

Taylor, H. 2018. Social justice in contemporary housing: Applying Rawls’ difference principle. Milton Park: Routledge.

Taylor, S. P. 2019. ‘Social Housing: Corporate Management Approaches in the UK.’ International Journal of Housing and Human Settlement Planning 5(2): 45-48.

Venugopal, R. 2015. ‘Neoliberalism as Concept.’ Economy and society 44(2): 165-187. https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2015.1013356

Williams, C. 2009. ‘Politics and Ethics.’ Pp. 109-126 in J. Mullarkey, B. Lord (eds.) 2009. The Bloomsbury companion to Continental Philosophy. London: Bloomsbury.

Please, login first to add a comment.
Document Type
article
ISSN
2336-2839
Volume / Issue
11 / 2
Pages
137-147
Date of publication
13.12.2024

Cite this article

copy
Hill, S. 2024. ‘The Underdeveloped Offering of Housing Ethics: New Possibilities for Housing Studies.’ Critical Housing Analysis 11 (2): 137-147. https://doi.org/10.13060/23362839.2024.11.2.571