{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T18:35:28Z","timestamp":1787682928741,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":58,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,7]],"date-time":"2024-09-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1725667200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["British Journal of Sociology"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Cruel Optimism\u2019 (Berlant, 2011) sustains neoliberalism by promising freedom and autonomy through adherence to and\u00a0performance of competitive behaviours. As Brown (2003) observes, neoliberalism is a discourse which operates, not through repression or restriction, but through promising self\u2010fulfilment and happiness. The role of emotion\u2010management in poverty governance has been widely acknowledged. However, this has focused on cultivation of population\u2010level punitive, negative emotions (such as shame, stigma, or resentment). It is widely acknowledged that welfare provision has been specifically targeted by neoliberal discourse, justifying intensifying interventions aimed at reshaping the subjectivities and aspirations of poor and marginalised individuals and households to serve the needs of deregulated markets. However, little attention has been paid to the importance of positive, hopeful emotion management in legitimising and effecting co\u2010operation. Drawing on interviews with 54 workers in the Welsh homelessness system, I argue that workers systematically create and sustain optimism in their clients as a mechanism to enable them to survive within an increasingly hostile housing system, as part of a deliberate, if reluctant, strategy to cultivate empowered, \u2018ethical\u2019 welfare selfhood against a backdrop of citizen abandonment. A three\u2010stage approach deployed by\u00a0workers includes (1) destabilisation of expectations of state help (2) re\u2010orientation, through cultivation of belief in\u00a0neoliberal promise (3) development of maintenance strategies. Improving applicant capacity to perform neoliberal welfare citizenship was perceived as an urgent, moral\u00a0and pragmatic necessity, and justified by care logics. I demonstrate how this extends not only our understanding of\u00a0welfare implementation, but also shows how positive emotion\u2010management generally, and Berlant's Cruel Optimism specifically, can be used to understand the practicalities of welfare governance.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/1468-4446.13144","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,7]],"date-time":"2024-09-07T13:03:46Z","timestamp":1725714226000},"page":"50-64","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Cruel optimism, affective governmentality and frontline poverty governance: \u2018You can promise the world\u2019"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"76","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9894-8323","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Edith","family":"England","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Education and Social Policy Cardiff Metropolitan University  Cardiff UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_7_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/j.ctv125jkj2"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/s1474746414000402"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5153\/sro.3439"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/j.ctv1220p4w.5"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10551\u2010020\u201004605\u20102"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1191\/1478088706qp063oa"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_2_7_8_1","first-page":"69","article-title":"\u201cYou can judge them on how they look\u201d: Homelessness officers, medical evidence and decision\u2010making in England","volume":"7","author":"Bretherton J.","year":"2013","journal-title":"European Journal of Homelessness"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1353\/tae.2003.0020"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/j.ctt17kk9p8"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s43151\u2010021\u201000047\u20103"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1515\/9781503616295"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1469540519872067"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0261018305057024"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7591\/9781501733918"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_16_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315242002-3"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0261018312444421"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S1474746422000501"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_19_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/00380261221102034"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_20_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S1474746424000046"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_21_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/spol.12949"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_22_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1075\/dapsac.13.06fai"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_23_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0042098017750070"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_24_1","volume-title":"Discipline and punishment: The Birth of the Prison","author":"Foucault M.","year":"1979"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_25_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9781003060963-10"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_26_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/9781118315996"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_27_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/gwao.12263"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_28_1","unstructured":"Goffman E.(1978).The presentation of self in everyday life."},{"key":"e_1_2_7_29_1","first-page":"81","article-title":"Foucault: Power, knowledge and discourse","volume":"72","author":"Hall S.","year":"2001","journal-title":"Discourse Theory and Practice: A Reader"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_30_1","unstructured":"Homelessness Reduction Act. (2017). Available athttps:\/\/www.legislation.gov.uk\/ukpga\/2017\/13\/contents. (Accessed 23rd September 2024)."},{"key":"e_1_2_7_31_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0261018315600835"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_32_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/21693293.2013.765741"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_33_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/bjsw\/bcx090"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_34_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9780429428593-4"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_35_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0038026120952744"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_36_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0038026120952744"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_2_7_37_1","first-page":"81","article-title":"Homelessness prevention: Reflecting on a year of pioneering Welsh legislation in practice","volume":"11","author":"Mackie P.","year":"2017","journal-title":"European Journal of Homelessness"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_38_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/cjres\/rsr023"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_39_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0261018309105180"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_40_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/02680939.2016.1160293"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_41_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1468\u20104446.12186"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_42_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0261018316681286"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_43_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/14036096.2015.1027830"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_44_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/13621025.2010.522340"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_45_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468\u20104446.2009.01247.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_46_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.15353\/cjds.v4i2.213"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_47_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315561509-3"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_48_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4337\/9781788974653.00008"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_49_1","first-page":"123","volume-title":"Governing through pedagogy","author":"Schram S. F.","year":"2013"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_50_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1548\u20101352.2010.01145.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_51_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1468\u20104446.12072"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_52_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226768786.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_53_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/tran.12406"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_54_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1332\/239788217x14866281687583"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_55_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5040\/9781350222359"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_56_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5040\/9781350222809"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_57_1","volume-title":"The revolution will not be funded: Beyond the non\u2010profit industrial complex","author":"Violence I. W. of C. A.","year":"2007"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_58_1","volume-title":"Methods of critical discourse studies","author":"Wodak R.","year":"2015"},{"key":"e_1_2_7_59_1","first-page":"147","article-title":"Self\u2010determination and global democracy: A critique of liberal nationalism","volume":"42","author":"Young I. M.","year":"2000","journal-title":"NOMOS: Am. Soc\u2019y Pol. Legal Phil"}],"container-title":["The British Journal of Sociology"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1111\/1468-4446.13144","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,9]],"date-time":"2025-01-09T12:16:44Z","timestamp":1736425004000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/1468-4446.13144"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,7]]},"references-count":58,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,1]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1111\/1468-4446.13144"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/1468-4446.13144","archive":["Portico"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["0007-1315","1468-4446"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0007-1315","type":"print"},{"value":"1468-4446","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,7]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2023-02-19","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2024-08-20","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2024-09-07","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}]}}