Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain's Underclass

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Darren McGarvey very openly explores his own struggles with addictions. Could Poverty Safari be read as a guide on how to deal with addiction?

Books: Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain’s

Part memoir, part polemic, this is a savage, wise and witty tour-de-force. An unflinching account of the realities of systemic poverty, Poverty Safari lays down challenges to both the left and right. It is hard to think of a more timely, powerful or necessary book. J.K. Rowling I pretty much lost interest in the book when this happened... McGarvey goes to a school for problem kids. Two boys are particularly troubled. He's going to meet with them to try to set them straight. He is a kind of social worker / rapper / icon.The McGarvey warns against investing too much energy and faith to the delivery of political silver bullets, because even if you do think that a change of government/the end of capitalism/Brexit/nationalism/Corbyn/Trump/not Trump will solve many of your problems, you could still be waiting for a long time, and if you aren't prepared to work within the current political system, then it become just another protest movement that wants to keep people angry for the benefit of the movement, not the community. When you think you have nothing to lose, then hoping for the banks to fail sounds like fun, but in reality, the poorest would still end up suffering the most. It's difficult to condense the main points of 'Poverty Safari', because it approaches its topic from such a variety of directions: class, economics, built environment, politics, mental health, food, and education, among others. The chapters link together neatly to create an original and profound examination of poverty in Scotland, and Britain in general. It's tempting as is for me, and likely many others who've never experienced real poverty either, to carelessly blame Tory policies since Thatcher for its persistence. McGarvey refuses to be so reductive: There's no way someone like me would have been given the opportunity to write a book like this had I not draped it, at least partially, in the veil of a misery memoir. Okay then, first, we need to create the illusion of objectivity. It seems the most effective way to do this would be to completely dehumanise my family and me, to look at our experience through a statistical lens.

Poverty Safari by Darren McGarvey | Waterstones Poverty Safari by Darren McGarvey | Waterstones

As well as white male privilege, intersectionality should allow us to better understand the phenomenon of affluent students on the campuses of elite western universities attempting to control how the rest of us think and discuss our own experiences, claiming to speak on our behalf while freezing us out of the conversation.” There is lots that I really enjoyed here, but the structure proved somewhat frustrating: it is only until the second half of the book, and really, the very last chapter that McGarvey seems to really spell out his most important point (and the most important lesson he’s learnt for his own life): that of taking personal responsibility. The other big theme is that of personal responsibility. The author believes that his life got a lot better when he stopped trying to externalise blame for all of his problems. In taking responsibility for his own diet, lifestyle and mental health, his own quality of life improved considerably. This is obviously a lot more complicated than it sounds, and much more difficult for those who grow up in poverty, but the point being that it didn't take a big political change. He throws down the gauntlet to the reader to take responsibility for the things we do have control of, especially those things which contribute to our health in our day to day lives. He reminds well intentioned people that they may become complicit in perpetuating problems by appearing to suggest that external factors are the key. Yes, better town planning and sensible regulation could make it easier for people to live healthy lives, but that only takes us so far. I was never in poverty, but I've lived alongside those who were. While I might not have been poor, I've felt helpless and frustrated and unsure why I couldn't change my situation. I found myself seeing my own life through different eyes, helped by Darren's considered honesty, his willingness to examine his own experiences fron multiple perspectives. Poverty Safari ends with some honest self-reflection by McGarvey. Although he speaks out against the social, political, and economic injustices that enable and perpetuate poverty, he suggests that the despair and powerlessness felt by many in disadvantaged working class communities has become a crutch to lean upon whilst blaming the difficulties that they face on circumstances and powers beyond their control.

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McGarvey contends that intersectionality activists have oversimplified any debate over what constitutes privilege and oppression and who is affected by it. From the point of McGarvey’s class-based argument, this oversimplification has resulted in the term ‘working class’ becoming a “synonym for ‘white male’” (p.159). As far as McGarvey is concerned, the result is that intersectionality denies the inclusion of the disadvantaged white working-class voice within the present social justice discourse. EPs serve many disadvantaged communities, and there is a correlation between socio-economic disadvantage and the prevalence of additional needs. We have an ethical duty to understand more about the communities that we serve so that we can work with and support them more effectively. This book provides a means towards further developing that understanding. Five have experienced abuse and neglect at the hands of a care giver … five have experienced health problems associated with poor nutrition and lifestyle.’ But this book is also an impassioned polemic about the structural economic and political injustices endemic within British society that render swathes of the population powerless and voiceless. Part of the power and impact of this polemical account stems in part from the inclusion of autobiographical material by McGarvey, who grew up in poverty, experienced neglect, emotional and physical abuse, and wrestled with his own alcohol and drug use. Four out of five have experienced alcohol or substance misuse problems at some point. Five have experienced long term financial problems which involve debilitating debt or defaults and poor credit history.’

Poverty Safari by Darren McGarvey | Goodreads Poverty Safari by Darren McGarvey | Goodreads

McGarvey has a lot of great things to say about the “poverty industry”; the dangers of centralized bureaucracy; hypocrisy among the left; the class divide; the sense of powerlessness of the working classes; not to mention his honest reflections on his own resentment, sense of victimhood, hypocrisy and personal change. Most of these themes come throughout the book, but the strongest and most central one – the personal responsibility he took to turn his life around – I’d have loved him to have talked about much more, both in his own life, and in the context of his own current work with the disaffected. It’s almost like McGarvey knows that this point will be met with groans from the left (with whom he identifies), so he has to spring it on them at the very end, after they’ve read all that they can agree with. this book is (as McGarvey describes it himself) part “misery memoir” about his childhood growing up with an alcoholic mother in a poor area of Glasgow, sharing his own personal anecdotal experiences of what poverty means in late 20th century Scotland (he was 33 at the time of writing - in 2017). The authenticity of McGarvey’s message confers an ambassadorial role as a representative of the socio-economically disadvantaged communities for whom he advocates. And who is the message for? Those who are privileged by virtue of the lottery of where and to whom they were born. Those who haven’t lived the experience of being poor with all that accompanies it. As uncomfortable as it may make us feel, that would include many EPs, myself included. I expect that some readers may disagree strongly with McGarvey’s analysis of intersectionality and its place within the broader discourse of social justice. Nevertheless, it remains likely that his perspective will be shared by some who live amongst the socio-economically disadvantaged communities that the EP profession serves. This perspective maintains that the white working class are not being heard and are being drowned out by competing voices that are also advocating for their own legitimate social justice needs.

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I can't say he didn't warn me. But, in my defense, I was reading the book electronically. Jumping around isn't exactly easy, in that format. And I just don't read that way.

Poverty Safari — Luath Press Poverty Safari — Luath Press

A read that really had me questioning how I think about modern day class in Britain, as well as my own politics (which I wasn't expecting going into it). Particularly unexpected (and powerful as a result) were McGarvey's arguments in favour of personal accountability: McGarvey concludes that despite the social injustices and difficulties that have shaped his own life experience, the only way he has been able to affect change in his own life is to take some personal responsibility for his future and not lay all the blame at the feet of society for having failed him. And you get what he promises. Disjointed chapters that run along without any connection. We flit from topic to topic, without any sense of building. And McGarvey uses the word "outwith" several times in what felt like a deliberate attempt to force me to use a dictionary. (I don't think I've ever seen that word before.)

You are no use to any family, community, cause or movement unless you are first able to manage, maintain and operate the machinery of your own life. These are the means of production that one must first seize before meaningful change can occur. This doesn't mean resistance has to stop. Nor does it mean power, corruption and injustice shouldn't be challenge. It simply means that running parallel to all of that necessary action must be a willingness to subject one's own thinking and behaviour to a similar quality of scrutiny. That's not a cop out; that's radicalism in the 21st century.' I believe our work within these communities would be aided by being aware of such frustrations, not least because they provide an opportunity to ask ourselves a reflective, yet potentially challenging, question. As a profession that seeks to support the marginalised and disadvantaged, are we using our voice to advocate for all marginalised and disadvantaged groups? Reflections for change Poverty Safari is an award-winning book published in 2017 about the socio-economically disadvantaged communities and people found across the UK. Class issues are concealed beneath a progressive veneer as identity politics becomes another vehicle for the socially mobile to dominate every aspect of public life.” After reading a number of articles both by and about Darren McGarvey, I must admit that I went into Poverty Safari with high expectations. It’s perhaps because of these expectations that I came away from the book feeling a little disappointed.