Housing movements: From solidaristic discourse to solidaristic fields

Abstract

This article considers interview data from a study on social housing in Vienna with reference to scholarship on solidarity and field theory to contribute to the conceptual development of ‘people power strategies’ (Tattersall & Iveson, 2021) related to housing. It takes up Madden and Marcuse's (2016) call for a focus on people and politics and offers a case study of Viennese housing to show an example where such a focus has found success. It argues that Vienna's high percentage of socially housed households was developed and is maintained through deliberate and constant work by actors in the social housing field. It shows the types of ‘social skill’ (Fligstein, 2001) that contribute to a strong social housing sector in Vienna. The paper develops the concept of solidaristic social skill as a ‘people power strategy’ (Tattersall & Iveson, 2021). Solidaristic discourse works against the stigmatisation which so often divides nascent housing movements.