Neoliberalism, Abandonment, and Stigmatisation in Residents’ Understandings of the Grenfell Tower Fire

Abstract

The fire that engulfed Grenfell Tower, on 14 June 2017, killed 72 people. This thesis is a study of the causes, experiences, and effects of that fire, from the perspectives of those who experienced it. The research used semi-structured interviews with twenty-four participants, conducted between October 2020 and October 2021, in combination with the analysis of a range of policy documents, Public Inquiry findings, and media reports. Four of the participants were survivors of the fire and members of the bereaved and survivors group, Grenfell United. Two live on the Lancaster West Estate, where Grenfell Tower is located, and ten participants were residents living nearby to Grenfell Tower at the time of the fire. The sample also includes: a firefighter who attended the fire; the Bishop of Kensington; an ITV journalist; Emma Dent-Coad, the MP for Kensington at the time of the fire; and four volunteers or people working closely with the community. The first key argument made within this thesis is that the fire was the result of decades of governance that rendered groups of people irrelevant to its calculations in the pursuit of financial accumulation through the housing industry and regeneration. This process, which has been described as “organised state abandonment”, is found to have penetrated the decisions that led to the fire, from broad neoliberal agendas to the decisions made locally about gentrification, the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, and the marginalisation of its residents. The second key claim concerns the immediate aftermath of the fire, in a chapter that considers how residents were abandoned, stigmatised, and subject to securitisation. I show how the state was absent in its caring function but present as a force of securitisation and policing. It is in this context that the bereaved and survivors group Grenfell United was formed, and movements like the silent walk were arranged. The third argument of the thesis examines whether the truth about the fire has been uncovered and whether justice and change have followed the fire. Here, the thesis argues that while there has been some piecemeal change, the necessary systemic change that challenges the deregulation agenda and the decline of social housing that led to the fire has been entirely missing. This case is made alongside an analysis of the features of the campaign for justice and in relation to the features and limitations of the Public Inquiry.

Date of Award	31 Dec 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Remi Joseph-Salisbury (Supervisor) & Nicholas Thoburn (Supervisor)