The literature on vulnerability is growing, with various disciplinary traditions contributing in different ways, generating the beginnings of an interdisciplinary debate about how vulnerability might be understood and addressed. In particular, there are sources which critique application of the concept in policy and practice, and more robust theorisations which seek to offer alternatives to ‘common sense’ approaches often seen in policy, and which develop understanding of conditions and lived experiences of vulnerability. The list below offers a brief overview of some of the main resources on vulnerability that map a number of the key strands within vulnerability scholarship (outlined further in the review article). This list aims to provide an initial point of departure for interested academics and researchers and therefore includes both papers that critique the problematic use of vulnerability in policy and practice and a number of the key theoretical literatures that deconstruct or develop its underlying dimensions. As many of the articles in the themed section illustrate, these literatures inter-relate and overlap, but for ease of accessibility we have selected some key themes which may be useful for research or teaching purposes.
Vulnerability as a contested concept in policy and practice
Brown, K. (2011) ‘“Vulnerability”: handle with care’, Journal of Ethics and Social Welfare, 5, 3, 313–21.
Brown, K. (2014) ‘Beyond protection: “the vulnerable” in the age of austerity’, in Harrison, M. and Sanders, T. (eds.), Social Policies and Social Control: New Perspectives on the Not-so-Big Society, Bristol: Policy Press, 39–52.
Brown, K. (2015) Vulnerability and Young People: Care and Social Control in Policy and Practice, Bristol: Policy Press.
Brown, K. (forthcoming) ‘The governance of vulnerability: regulation, support and social divisions in action’, International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy.
Ecclestone, K. (2016) ‘Behaviour change policy agendas for “vulnerable” subjectivities: the dangers of therapeutic governance and its new entrepreneurs’, Journal of Education Policy, http://tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02680939.2016.1219768.
Ecclestone, K. and Goodley, D. (2016) ‘Political and educational springboard or straightjacket? Theorizing post/humanist subjects in an age of vulnerability’, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 37, 2, 175–188.
Ecclestone, K. and Brunila, K. (2015) ‘Governing emotionally vulnerable subjects and the “therapisation” of social justice’, Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 23, 4, 485–506.
Furedi, F. (2008) ‘Fear and security: a vulnerability-led policy response’, Social Policy and Administration, 42, 6, 645–61.
Harrison, M. and Sanders, T. (2006) ‘Vulnerable people and the development of “regulatory therapy”’, in Dearling, A., Newburn, T. and Somerville, P. (eds.), Supporting Safer Communities: Housing, Crime and Neighborhoods, Coventry: CIH, 155–68.
Hollander, J. (2001) ‘Vulnerability and dangerousness: the construction of gender through conversation about violence’, Gender and Society, 15, 1, 83–109.
Potter, T. and Brotherton, G. (2013) ‘What do we mean when we talk about vulnerability?’, in Brotherton, G. and Cronin, M. (eds.), Working with Vulnerable Children, Young People and Families, London: Routledge, 1–15.
McLaughlin, K. (2012) Surviving Identity: Vulnerability and the Psychology of Recognition, London: Routledge.
Prowse, M. (2003) ‘Towards a clearer understanding of “vulnerability” in relation to chronic poverty’, Working Paper No. 24, University of Antwerp: Chronic Poverty Research Centre.
Sarewitz, D., Pielke, R. Jr. and Keykhah, M. (2003) ‘Vulnerability and risk: some thoughts from a political and policy perspective’, Risk Analysis, 23, 4, 805–10.
In health and social care
Beddoe, L. (2013) ‘Risk and vulnerability discourses in health’, in Beddoe, L. and Maidment, J. (eds.), Social Work Practice for Promoting Health and Wellbeing: Critical Issues, Oxon and New York: Routledge, 21–62.
Fawcett, B. (2009) ‘Vulnerability: questioning the certainties in social work and health’, International Journal of Social Work, 52, 4, 473–84.
Hurst, S. A. (2008) ‘Vulnerability in research and health care: describing the elephant in the room?’, Bioethics, 22, 4, 191–202.
Moon, G. (2000) ‘Risk and protection: the discourse of confinement in contemporary mental health policy’, Health and Place, 6, 3, 239–50.
Quesada, J., Hart, L. K. and Borbois, P. (2011) ‘Structural vulnerability and health: Latino migrant labourers in the United States’, Medical Anthropology, 30, 4, 339–62.
Warner, J. (2008) ‘Community care, risk and the shifting locus of danger and vulnerability in mental health’, in Peterson, A. and Wilkinson, I. (eds.), Health, Risk and Vulnerability, London: Routledge, 30–48.
In children's services and education
Brown, K. (2014) ‘Questioning the vulnerability zeitgeist: care and control practices with “vulnerable” young people’, Social Policy and Society, 34, 3, 371–87.
Coppock, V. and McGovern, M. (2014) ‘ “Dangerous minds”? Deconstructing counter-terrorism discourse, radicalisation and the “psychological vulnerability” of Muslim children and young people in Britain’, Children and Society, 28, 3, 242–56.
Daniel, B. (2010) ‘Concepts of adversity, risk, vulnerability and resilience: a discussion in the context of the “child protection system”’, Social Policy and Society, 9, 2, 231–41.
Brotherton, G. and Cronin, M. (2013) Working with Vulnerable Children, Young People and Families, Abingdon: Routledge.
Ecclestone, K. and Lewis, L. (2014) ‘Interventions for resilience in educational settings: challenging policy discourses of risk and vulnerability’, Journal of Education Policy, 29, 2, 195–216.
McLeod, J. (2012) ‘Vulnerability and the neoliberal youth citizen: a view from Australia’, Comparative Education, 48, 1, 11–26.
Van Loon, J. (2008) ‘Governmentality and the subpolitics of teenage sexual risk behaviour’, in Peterson, A. and Wilkinson, I. (eds.), Health, Risk and Vulnerability, Abingdon: Routledge, 48–65.
In criminal justice
Chakraborti, N. and Garland, J. (2012) ‘Reconceptualizing hate crime victimization through the lens of vulnerability and “difference”’, Theoretical Criminology, 16, 4, 499–514.
Ewin, R. (2015) ‘The vulnerable and intimidated witness: a socio-legal analysis of special measures’, Journal of Applied Psychology and Social Science, 1, 2, 31–54.
Killeas, M. (1990) ‘Vulnerability: towards a better understanding of a key variable in the genesis of fear of crime’, Violence and Victims 5, 97–108.
Munro, V. E. and Scoular, J. (2012) ‘Abusing vulnerability? Contemporary law and policy responses to sex work in the UK’, Feminist Legal Studies, 20, 3, 189–206.
Munro, V. and Scoular, J. (2013) ‘Harm, vulnerability and citizenship: constitutional concerns in the criminalisation of contemporary sex work’, in Duff, R. A., Farmer, L., Marshall, S. E., Ranzo, M. and Tadross, V. (eds.), The Constitution of the Criminal Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 30– 53.
Richards, A. (2011) ‘The problem with “radicalisation”: the remit of “Prevent” and the need to refocus on terrorism in the UK’, International Affairs, 87, 1, 143–52.
Walkgate, S. (2011) ‘Reframing criminal victimization: finding a place for vulnerability and resilience’, Theoretical Criminology, 15, 2, 179–94.
In disability
Clough, B. (2014) ‘Vulnerability and capacity to consent to sex – asking the right questions?’, Child and Family Law Quarterly, 26, 4, 371–97.
Dunn, M., Clare, I. and Holland, A. (2008) ‘To empower or protect? Constructing the “vulnerable adult” in English law and public policy’, Legal Studies, 28, 2, 234–53.
Hasler, F. (2004) ‘Disability, care and controlling services’, in Swain, J., French, S., Barnes, C. and Thomas, C. (eds.), Disabling Barriers – Enabling Environments, London: Sage.
Hollomotz, A. (2009) ‘Beyond “vulnerability”: an ecological model approach to conceptualizing risk of sexual violence against people with learning difficulties’, British Journal of Social Work, 39, 1, 99–112.
Hollomotz, (2011) Learning Difficulties and Sexual Vulnerability: A Social Approach, London: Jessica Kingsley.
Roulstone, A., Thomas, P. and Balderson, S. (2011) ‘Between hate and vulnerability: unpacking the British criminal justice system's construction of disablist hate crime’, Disability and Society, 26, 3, 351– 64.
Roulstone, A. and Sadique, K. (2013) ‘“Vulnerability” and the fight for legal recognition’, in Roulstone, A. and Mason-Bish, H. (eds.), Disability, Hate Crime and Violence, Abingdon: Routledge, 25–39.
Sherwood Johnson, F. (2013) ‘Constructions of vulnerability in comparative perspective: Scottish protection policies and the trouble with “adults at risk”’, Disability and Society, 28, 7, 908–21.
Wiles, J. (2011) ‘Reflections on being a recipient of care: vexing the concept of vulnerability’, Social and Cultural Geography, 12, 6, 573–88.
Wishart, G. (2003) ‘The sexual abuse of people with learning difficulties: do we need a social approach model approach to vulnerability?’, The Journal of Adult Protection, 5, 3, 14–27.
In housing
Carr, H. and Hunter, C. (2008) ‘Managing vulnerability: homelessness law and the interplay of the social, the political and the technical’, Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 30, 4, 293–307.
Lévy-Vroelant, C. (2010) ‘Housing vulnerable groups: the development of a new public action sector’, International Journal of Housing Policy, 10, 4, 443–56.
In European law
Peroni, L. and Timmer, A. (2013) ‘Vulnerable groups: the promise of an emergent concept in European Human Rights Convention Law’, International Journal of Constitutional Law, 11, 4, 1056–85.
Timmer, A. (2013) ‘A quiet revolution: vulnerability in the European Court of Human Rights’, in Fineman, M. and Grear, A. (eds.), Vulnerability: Reflections on a New Ethical Foundation for Law and Politics, Farnham: Ashgate, 147–71.
In psychology
Glendening, N. and Carter, S. (2013) ‘Psychological perspectives of vulnerability’, in Heaslip, V. and Ryden, J. (eds.), Understanding Vulnerability: A Nursing and Healthcare Approach, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackman, 132–53.
Willoughby, R. (2013) ‘Notes of psychologies of vulnerability’, in Brotherton, G. and Cronin, M. (eds.), Working with Vulnerable Children, Young People and Families, Abingdon: Routledge, 16–35.
Universal vulnerability, ethics and feminist theory
Beckett, A. (2006) Citizenship and Vulnerability: Disability and Issues of Social and Political Engagement, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Butler, J. (2004) Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence, London: Verso.
Butler, J. (2009) ‘Performativity, precarity and sexual politics’, Lecture given at UniversiDad Complutense de Madrid, June 8, 2009, AIBR Revista de Anthropologia Iberomericana, 4, 3, i–xiii.
Butler, J. (2012) ‘Bodily vulnerability, coalitions and street politics’, in Kuzma, M., Lafuente, P. and Osborne, P. (eds.), The State of Things, London: Office for Contemporary Art Norway and Koenig Books.
Dodds, S. (2007) ‘Depending on care: recognition of vulnerability and the social construction of care provision’, Bioethics, 21, 9, 500–10.
Fineman, M. (2008) ‘The vulnerable subject: anchoring equality in the human condition’, Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, 20, 1, 1–23.
Fineman, M. and Grear, A. (eds.) (2013) Vulnerability: Reflections on a New Ethical Foundation for Law and Politics, Farnham: Ashgate.
Fineman, M. (2014) ‘Vulnerability, resilience, and LGBT youth’, Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review, 23, 2, 307–29.
Goodin, R. (1985) Protecting the Vulnerable: A Re-analysis of our Social Responsibilities, London: University of Chicago Press.
Harrison, P. (2008) ‘Corporeal remains: vulnerability, proximity, and living on after the end of the world’, Environment and Planning A, 40, 2, 423–45.
Kittay, E. (1999) Love's Labor: Essays on Women, Equality and Dependency, New York: Routledge.
Kohn, N. A. (2014) ‘Vulnerability theory and the role of Government’, Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, 26, 1, 1–28.
Luna, F. (2009) ‘Elucidating the concept of vulnerability: layers not labels’, International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, 2, 1, 121–39.
MacIntyre, A. (1999) Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need Virtues, Chicago: Open Court Publishing.
Mackenzie, C., Rogers, W. and Dodds, S. (2014) Vulnerability: New Essays in Ethics and Feminist Philosophy, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nussbaum, M. (2006) Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality and Species Membership, London: Harvard University Press.
Ramsay, P. (2012) The Insecurity State: Vulnerable Autonomy and the Right to Security in the Criminal Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Turner, B. (2006) Vulnerability and Human Rights, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press.
Wallbank, J. and Herring, J. (eds.) (2014) Vulnerabilities, Care and Family Law, London: Routledge.
Vulnerability and social disadvantage
Atkinson, R. (2015) ‘Urban policy, city control and social catharsis: the attack on social frailty as therapy’, British Journal of Criminology, 55, 5, 866–82.
Emmel, N. D. and Hughes, K. (2010) ‘Recession, it's all the same to us son? The longitudinal experience (1999–2010) of deprivation’, Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences: 21st Century Society, 5, 2, 171–81.
Emmel, N. and Hughes, K. (2014) ‘Vulnerability, inter-generational exchange, and the conscience of generations’, in Holland, J. and Edwards, R. (eds.), Understanding Families over Time: Research and Policy, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 161–75.
Kirby, P. (2006) Vulnerability and Violence: The Impact of Globalisation, London: Pluto Press.
Misztal, B. A. (2011) The Challenges of Vulnerability: In Search of Strategies for a Less Vulnerable Social Life, Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hazards, environment and vulnerability
Adger, N. (2006) ‘Vulnerability’, Global Environmental Change, 16, 3, 268–81.
Chambers, R. (1989) ‘Vulnerability, coping and policy’, Institute of Development Studies (IDS) Bulletin, 37, 4, 33–40.
Bankoff, G., Frerks, G. and Hilhorst, T. (eds.) (2004) Mapping Vulnerability: Disasters, Development and People, London: Earthscan.
Bradshaw, S. (2013) Gender, Development and Disasters, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Cutter, S. L. (1996) ‘Vulnerability to environmental hazards’, Progress in Human Geography, 20, 4, 529–39.
Ebert, A., Kerle, N. and Stein, A. (2009) ‘Urban social vulnerability assessment with physical proxies and spatial metrics derived from air- and spaceborne imagery and GIS data’, Natural Hazards, 48, 2, 275–94.
Watts, M. J. and Bohle, H. G. (1993) ‘The space of vulnerability: the causal structure of hunger and famine’, Progress in Human Geography, 17, 1, 43–67.
Other sources of interest
Brown, B. (2012) Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead, London: Penguin.
Brown, B. (2010) The Power of Vulnerability, TED Talks: TEDxHouston, https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.
