Article
Details
Citation
Capdevila R & Callaghan J (2007) 'It's not racist. It's common sense'. A critical analysis of political discourse around asylum and immigration in the UK. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 18 (1), pp. 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.904
Abstract
This paper looks at a political speech given by the leader of the opposition party during the run up to the UK elections in 2005. Using this speech as a starting point, we attempt to trace the path of ¡®racism¡¯ within a text that makes explicit claims to being ¡®not racist¡¯. Drawing on a number of theoretical and methodological resources, this paper approaches the analysis by focusing on a number of conceptually heterogeneous elements that, in relation with each other, function to produce, re©\produce and stabilize ¡®racism¡¯. One of the difficulties commonly encountered in social psychological work, we would suggest, is that an explicit statement of allegiance to a particular methodological and theoretical tradition can also result in a restriction of theorization to a particular ¡®level of analysis¡¯. That is to say, a methodological process that constructs a pre©\given category, presets the criteria by which ¡®racism¡¯ can be identified and fixes the ¡®level of analysis¡¯ at which it can be studied risks ignoring the multiple points of contact at which ¡®racism¡¯ can be made visible or made to disappear. The concern here it that such a process can work to reinscribe the very ¡®racisms¡¯ we aim to disrupt
Keywords
immigration; asylum; refugees; discourse analysis; race; racism; conservative party; Michael Howard
Journal
Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology: Volume 18, Issue 1
Status | Published |
---|---|
Publication date | 19/12/2007 |
Publication date online | 05/12/2007 |
Date accepted by journal | 12/09/2006 |
ISSN | 1052-9284 |
eISSN | 1099-1298 |
People (1)
Director Child Wellbeing & Protection, Social Work