working class as folk devils

• Criminalisation of poverty on reality TV with shows like Benefits Street. Their purpose is to present poor people as an enemy or other, fanning the existing flames of hostility towards the welfare state 
• • One resident who appeared on the show, nicknamed White Dee, told newspaper ‘this documentary turned our street into a tourist attraction, into figures of hate’ 
  • the participants of Benefits Street became folk devils and assisted with the moral panic surrounding welfare state. The tabloid press ran headlines such as following in the Daily Express ‘4 million scrounging families in Britain’ or ‘the benefits scrounger who hasn’t worked in 24 years because she’s allergic to shoes’ 
• • Additionally other shows like Jeremy Kyle included host baiting guests that didn’t work calling them lazy and scroungers 
  • 2019, the show cancelled after a guest committed suicide after failing a lie detector test