The Ideology of Home Ownership

Demand for owner-occupied housing expanded dramatically across modern, industrialized societies in recent years leading to volatile increases in residential property values. Entry into the owner-occupied sector has become increasingly critical to households, while the viability of rental-tenure has been undermined. This book explores the rise of modern home-ownership as a cultural, socio-political and ideological phenomenon. It focuses on housing consumption across a range of societies dominated by a political and cultural commitment to home-ownership, which has been largely manipulated and ideologically charged.

Introduction: Housing, Home Ownership and “Property Owning Democracies” * Unravelling Home Ownership Ideology * Homeowner Ideologies: Normalization, Privatism and Consumption * Housing and Globalisation: The Neo-liberalization of Welfare Regimes * The Rise of Mass Home Ownership in Anglo-Saxon Societies * The ‘New’ Homeowner Societies: Housing Systems and Ideology in Japan and the Tiger Economies * Home Ownership in Comparison: Divergence and Convergence between Homeowner Societies * Conclusion: The Future of Home Ownership–Social, Economic and Political Consequences