Sceptical, disorderly and paradoxical subjects: problematizing the ‘will to empower’ in social housing governance

Drawing on focus group research with social housing tenants this paper illustrates that despite the existence of a political “will to empower” within housing stock transfer policy in Scotland, the effects of governmental strategies are only ever partial and uneven, and may be subject to challenge and contestation from below. Through a focus on “lay” perspectives and the contested nature of contemporary governing practices, the paper argues for more attention to the messy realities of governing within specific local contexts, especially the way in which governable subjects can think and act otherwise, and forge their own alternative govern-mentalities.