society

New Article: “Between Critical and Uncritical Understandings: a case study analyzing the claims of Islamophobia made in the context of the proposed ‘Super-Mosque’ in Dudley, England”

A quick post to announce the publication of another new article,  “Between Critical and Uncritical Understandings: A Case Study Analyzing the Claims of Islamophobia Made in the Context of the Proposed ‘Super-Mosque’ in Dudley, England”. As with a few of my other recent articles, this is ‘open access’ despite being published in the peer reviewed academic journal, Societies. If interested therefore, you can download a copy of the article for FREE here.

If you want to know what the article is about before downloading, I’ve pasted the abstract below:

Research highlights how usage and claims of Islamophobia tend to be simplistic and without nuance. Using a case study approach, this article considers the claims of Islamophobia made in relation to the proposed Dudley ‘super-mosque’. Setting out a narrative of the ‘super-mosque’, this article draws upon primary and secondary research to consider the claims and discourses of the major actors in the Dudley setting: the Dudley Muslim Association, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, the far-right especially the British National Party and the English Defence League, as well as individual political figures. Considering each in detail, this article seeks to evaluate the extent to which each of the actors and the claims of Islamophobia made against them might be valid. As well as exploring claims of Islamophobia within a ‘real’ environment, this article seeks to critically engage the opposition shown towards the mosque, the way in which the opposition campaigns were mobilized and engineered, and how the ideological meanings of Islamophobia was able to be readily utilized to validate and justify such opposition. In doing so, this article concludes that the claims and usage of Islamophobia was weak and that a more critical and nuanced usage of the term is urgently required.

Open access, it’s the future !!!

Anti-Social Behaviour: new research report launched today

As a timely reminder that my research goes beyond Islamophobia, Muslims, religion etc into the realm of social problems more widely, I was today involved in the launch of a piece of research undertaken last year by a team I led at the University of Birmingham.

Working with Peabody Homes in London, the research sought to understand the views of residents and staff about anti-social behaviour (ASB) and crime on its estates. It hoped to identify best practice to improve intervention and develop better preventative measures.

Launched earlier today at the London Wellbeing Conference in the plush surroundings of Glaziers Hall on London Bridge, the research came up with almost 50 direct recommendations for tackling ASB in the housing sector.

Liz Chambers, head of community safety and support at Peabody said:

“We are very excited about the launch of this research. ASB can cause fear and distress to residents, affecting their health, wellbeing and home life — and there’s a widespread perception that housing providers aren’t doing enough to tackle it. We hope that the research will outline ways in which housing providers can refresh their approaches to ASB.”

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“Passing the Dinner Table Test Retrospective and Prospective Approaches to Tackling Islamophobia in Britain” (New Article)

A quick post to announce the publication of my new article, “Passing the Dinner Table Test Retrospective and Prospective Approaches to Tackling Islamophobia in Britain”. As it is ‘open access’, despite being published in a peer reviewed academic journal – SAGE Open – you can still download a pdf of the article for free. To do so, click here.

If you want to know what the article is about before downloading, I’ve pasted the abstract below:

“Through establishing the All Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia and Cross-Government Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred, the Coalition government has afforded significance to Islamophobia. Focusing on definition, evidence, and politics, this article considers British governmental policy approaches to tackling Islamophobia over the past 15 years. Tracing religiously based discrimination from the 1980s to the publication of the Runnymede Trust’s 1997 groundbreaking report into Islamophobia, this article explores how the New Labour government sought primarily to address Islamophobia through a broadening of the equalities framework. Against a backdrop of 9/11 and 7/7, a concurrent security and anti-terror agenda had detrimental impacts. Under the Coalition, there has been a marked change. Considering recent developments and initiatives, the Coalition has seemingly rejected Islamophobia as an issue of equalities preferring approaches more akin to tackling Anti-Semitism. In conclusion, definition, evidence, and politics are revisited to offer a prospective for future British governmental policy.”

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Thatcher, Tory benefactors, Millwall FC and the hijacking of the FA Cup

I’m not sure which has been most impacting on me this week: Millwall’s FA Cup Semi Final against Wigan Athletic FC on Saturday or the news on Monday of Margaret Thatcher’s death.

These two seemingly disparate events were forced together following the suggestion by Dave Whelan (Chairman, Wigan Athletic FC) that a minute’s silence and the wearing of black armbands should be observed at the FA Cup Semi Final on the basis that football “owed” it to Thatcher. Widely reported in the media, The Telegraph reported Whelan as saying:

“We owe Mrs Thatcher a minute’s silence…It is not my decision, it is for the FA to decide, but I would be in favour of wearing an armband out of respect to Mrs Thatcher. We have to say thank you very much for the services the former PM has given us. 

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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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