2008

Working Class…? No…I’m now a ‘New Affluent Worker’ !!!

Ever thought or identified yourself as working or middle-class (I assume nobody describing themselves as ‘upper class’ would be reading my blog !!!) ?

Well according to research published in the British Sociological Association‘s journal, Sociology - and more widely by the BBC – such class distinctions are nowadays outdated. Instead of the traditional three classes - applicable to only 39% of people in today’s Britain – it is now more appropriate to consider people as being one of seven new social classes. At the top end of the class structure is an ‘elite’ class while at the other end is a ‘precariat‘; a poor, precarious proletariat that accounts for about 15% of the population.

With more than 161,000 people taking part in the research, the findings show that whilst class has traditionally been defined by occupation, wealth and education, in the twenty-first century this is far too simplistic. Today, class has three dimensions: economic, social and cultural which take into account such variables as income, savings and house value as also the number and status of people you know.

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Where did Easter go…? (Part 3)

I recently came across the image to the left when browsing online. What a great image…! So great was it that it made me want to write “Where did Easter go…? (Part 3)”.

So why ‘Part 3′…? Well, I guess this is an extension of two blog posts I wrote back in 2008. So if you’re interested, you can read Part 1 and/or Part 2 here. Essentially, the blog posts focused on how Easter as a religious or spiritual festival had seemed to have completely disappeared, almost without it even being noticed.

I’m not the only one to think like this. An editorial in last week’s The Spectator noted much the same albeit from a seemingly much more ‘Christian’ point of view. For The Spectator though:

“Unlike Christmas, [Easter is] a story that doesn’t lend itself to much commercial fuss: no kings or presents. Easter is a story of sacrifice, torture, abandonment and death — and, through it all, triumph over that death. Even in the 21st century; despite all the chocolate eggs, Easter gives us pause.”

To be honest, I’m not sure that Easter gives many of us “pause”, a phrase that in itself sounds somewhat archaic.

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“All Muslims are the Same: from external Others to homegrown bombers and beyond” ESRC Conference 7-8th March 2013

I recently participated in an ESRC Conference held at the University of Warwick on 7th & 8th March 2013. Entitled, “Whose Security? Migration-(In)security Dilemmas Ten Years After 9/11″ I had been invited to present a paper on the way in which Muslim communities had become increasingly seen as ‘suspect communities’ and how this had begun to play out in the public and political spaces. My paper was titled, “All Muslims are the Same: from external Others to homegrown bombers and beyond”.

From the title alone, you might be surprised to see how the image of Zayn Malik from One Direction is relevant to the paper. Well so that you can find out, I’ve pasted a rough transcript of my paper below including relevant links where appropriate:

“All Muslims are the Same: from external Others to homegrown bombers and beyond”

Events over the past few weeks have reminded me just how important the discussions taking place in this conference continue to be.

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“Between left and right: Islamophobic discourse in the political sphere” – Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies

Last week I was kindly invited to present a paper as part of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies‘ “Muslims in Europe” Hilary Term Seminar Series.

In doing so, I presented a paper entitled, “Between left and right: Islamophobic discourse in the political sphere”.

In my new found drive to try and ensure that as much of my research output as possible is made open access (freely available to everyone – it’s the future for academia…!), I am making the slides from the paper available on my blog.

To view the slides, visit my online library on Issuu by clicking here.

Liberal? Socialist…? No, apparently football is small ‘C’ conservative

I received the following tweet this morning:

“@DrChrisAllen it’s a contradiction in terms to be a millwall and that kind of liberalism. Millwall is small c conservative”

Sent from someone I’d had no previous contact with, they clearly objected to me being a Millwall fan given the political views I hold.

However in the same way that I disagree with Yasmin Alibhai-Brown when she infers that all Millwall fans are racist, I equally refuse to accept that to be a Millwall fan you have to be a “small c conservative”.

Such a statement comes as a bit of a surprise, especially when in recent weeks Millwall Football Club and its players have been at the forefront of the campaign to save Lewisham Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department. The relevance of this is best summed up by a post on the 200% blog:

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IASS News: “IASS Academic Chris Allen’s Research Praised by British Politicians”

Reproduced below is some news featured on the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Applied Social Studies (IASS) website.

To view the actual page, click here.

Alternatively, you can read it below:

Chris Allen’s research into Islamophobia has been publicly praised by two high profile politicians.

At an event in London on the evening of 24th January 2013, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi – Minister for Faith and Communities and former Chair of the Conservative Party – and Simon Hughes – Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats and MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark – not only drew on findings from his research into Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred but also praised him for its timeliness and impact.

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