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<meta content="Atkinson, Rowland G." name="eprints.creators_name" />
<meta content="Blandy, Sarah" name="eprints.creators_name" />
<meta content="rowland.atkinson@utas.edu.au" name="eprints.creators_id" />
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<meta content="Homeownership, socio-legal, neoliberalism, lethal defence, revenge/revanchism
For a man’s house is his castle, et domus sua cuique est tutissimum refugium [and
each man’s home his safest refuge]. (Lord Chief Justice Coke, 1644)" name="eprints.keywords" />
<meta content="This paper documents how and attempts to explain why homeowners have adopted an increasingly strategic approach to the defence of the home and the progressively vengeful pursuit of those who invade the home. This approach has been articulated via the political process as well as through a media ‘conversation’ that form a milieu within which defensive homeownership has emerged. It is suggested that a threshold has been crossed marking a transformative moment in which left-leaning calls for understanding have been supplanted by a call for the increasingly vicious defence of home territories. In a broader context of neo-liberalism the transition toward increased privatism, freedom of choice and unfettered agency now closely correspond to the position
of homeowners as ‘consumer sovereigns’. Defensive homeownership therefore appears not only as the aspiration of homeowners for safety but also as a result of a complex interrelationship between political, media and ideological systems that have generated strong impressions of risk and
victimisation. The paper documents the powerful socio-legal and political discourses which have reinforced territorial instincts while generating a broader culture of fear played out through celebrated cases in the public domain. In conclusion, it is argued that defensive homeownership
expresses an aggressive aspect of the socio-political constitution of that tenure and a broader need
for the deployment of cathartic public policies in defence of embattled home territories." name="eprints.abstract" />
<meta content="2007" name="eprints.date" />
<meta content="Housing Studies" name="eprints.publication" />
<meta content="22" name="eprints.volume" />
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<meta content="Appadurai, A. (2006) Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of Anger (Durham and London: Duke
University Press).
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Urban Studies, 43, pp. 819–832.
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The Rise of Defensive Homeownership 457
Downloaded By: [University of Tasmania] At: 23:52 3 July 2007
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(New York: Hill and Wang)." name="eprints.referencetext" />
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of homeowners as ‘consumer sovereigns’. Defensive homeownership therefore appears not only as the aspiration of homeowners for safety but also as a result of a complex interrelationship between political, media and ideological systems that have generated strong impressions of risk and
victimisation. The paper documents the powerful socio-legal and political discourses which have reinforced territorial instincts while generating a broader culture of fear played out through celebrated cases in the public domain. In conclusion, it is argued that defensive homeownership
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<h1 class="ep_tm_pagetitle">Panic Rooms: The rise of defensive homeownership</h1>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block"><span class="person_name">Atkinson, Rowland G.</span> and <span class="person_name">Blandy, Sarah</span> (2007) <xhtml:em>Panic Rooms: The rise of defensive homeownership.</xhtml:em> Housing Studies, 22 (4). pp. 443-458. ISSN 0267-3037</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block"></p><table style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block"><tr><td valign="top" style="text-align:center"><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/2283/1/Panic_Rooms2C_HS2C_07.pdf"><img alt="[img]" src="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png" class="ep_doc_icon" border="0" /></a></td><td valign="top"><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/2283/1/Panic_Rooms2C_HS2C_07.pdf"><span class="ep_document_citation">PDF</span></a> - Full text restricted - Requires a PDF viewer<br />130Kb</td><td><form method="get" accept-charset="utf-8" action="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/request_doc"><input accept-charset="utf-8" value="2925" name="docid" type="hidden" /><div class=""><input value="Request a copy" name="_action_null" class="ep_form_action_button" onclick="return EPJS_button_pushed( '_action_null' )" type="submit" /> </div></form></td></tr></table><p style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block">Official URL: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02673030701387580">http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02673030701387580</a></p><div class="not_ep_block"><h2>Abstract</h2><p style="padding-bottom: 16px; text-align: left; margin: 1em auto 0em auto">This paper documents how and attempts to explain why homeowners have adopted an increasingly strategic approach to the defence of the home and the progressively vengeful pursuit of those who invade the home. This approach has been articulated via the political process as well as through a media ‘conversation’ that form a milieu within which defensive homeownership has emerged. It is suggested that a threshold has been crossed marking a transformative moment in which left-leaning calls for understanding have been supplanted by a call for the increasingly vicious defence of home territories. In a broader context of neo-liberalism the transition toward increased privatism, freedom of choice and unfettered agency now closely correspond to the position
of homeowners as ‘consumer sovereigns’. Defensive homeownership therefore appears not only as the aspiration of homeowners for safety but also as a result of a complex interrelationship between political, media and ideological systems that have generated strong impressions of risk and
victimisation. The paper documents the powerful socio-legal and political discourses which have reinforced territorial instincts while generating a broader culture of fear played out through celebrated cases in the public domain. In conclusion, it is argued that defensive homeownership
expresses an aggressive aspect of the socio-political constitution of that tenure and a broader need
for the deployment of cathartic public policies in defence of embattled home territories.</p></div><table style="margin-bottom: 1em" cellpadding="3" class="not_ep_block" border="0"><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Item Type:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">Article</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Keywords:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">Homeownership, socio-legal, neoliberalism, lethal defence, revenge/revanchism
For a man’s house is his castle, et domus sua cuique est tutissimum refugium [and
each man’s home his safest refuge]. (Lord Chief Justice Coke, 1644)</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Subjects:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row"><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/view/subjects/370104.html">370000 Studies in Human Society > 370100 Sociology > 370104 Urban Sociology and Community Studies</a><br /><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/view/subjects/370402.html">370000 Studies in Human Society > 370400 Human Geography > 370402 Social and Cultural Geography</a></td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">ID Code:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">2283</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Deposited By:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row"><span class="ep_name_citation"><span class="person_name">Dr Rowland G Atkinson</span></span></td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Deposited On:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">22 Oct 2007 16:26</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Last Modified:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">09 Jan 2008 02:30</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">ePrint Statistics:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row"><a target="ePrintStats" href="/es/index.php?action=show_detail_eprint;id=2283;">View statistics for this ePrint</a></td></tr></table><p align="right">Repository Staff Only: <a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/users/home?screen=EPrint::View&eprintid=2283">item control page</a></p>
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