NEW ARTICLE - ‘Victims’ Versus ‘Offenders’ in British Political Discourse: The Construction of a False Dichotomy

BY Andrew Henley, PhD student and Graduate Teaching Assistant in Criminology

In this new article I collaborate with Dr Deborah Drake from the Open University (joint-winner of this year’s British Society of Criminology book prize for Prisons, Punishment and the Pursuit of Security).  We use the article to discuss the ways in which British politicians speak of those convicted of criminal offences and those who experience victimization.  We pay particular attention to the way that ‘rights’ are spoken of and conveyed to the public in parliamentary debates and in the media. 

Our analysis suggests that the rights of ‘victims’ are sometimes advocated for at the expense of those constructed as ‘offenders’ – a classic example of a ‘zero-sum game’.    We argue that this approach has the effect of preventing more meaningful consideration of proper support for victims of crime (by not considering their needs beyond the scope of the criminal justice system), worsens opportunities for the successful reintegration of ex-prisoners (by further stigmatizing them as ‘other’) and constructs a false dichotomy between two ‘groups’ of citizens who do not fall into mutually-exclusive categories.  Indeed, there is often overlap between those members of the population who are statistically more likely to be at risk of crime victimisation and those who may be at risk of involvement in criminal activity.

The article is available to read online in the Howard Journal of Criminal Justice (log-in required).

The Lifeboat Politics of Immigration

By Dr Ala Sirriyeh, Lecturer in Sociology  

On Tuesday the Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced his government's plans to introduce increased restrictions on welfare entitlements for EU migrants living in the UK; ostensibly in preparation for the lifting of work restrictions for Romanians and Bulgarians in the UK from January 2014. If these plans go ahead, EU migrants will not be able to claim benefits for their first three months in the UK and benefit payments will stop after six months if these migrants are not deemed to have a 'genuine' chance of getting a job. Fines are set to quadruple for employers found to be paying less than the minimum wage, while EU migrants found sleeping rough will face deportation. On Wednesday evening Channel 4 news visited Margate in Kent in search of local residents' reactions to Cameron's new policy. One man they spoke to explained his support for the new restrictions by comparing the UK to a lifeboat. He asserted it was not a case of being racist or xenophobic, but rather a matter of numbers and balancing the books. Too many migrants arriving would lead to the UK (the lifeboat) sinking. In times of austerity tough decisions about our survival need to be made. Such sinking analogies are common in this island nation and, for me, often conjure up an image of a mad dash to each side of the country in a desperate attempt to keep the UK afloat. It has become commonplace for proponents of immigration restrictions to attempt to separate immigration policy from debates on racism, as was seen in the Conservation campaign posters in the 2005 general election. As I observed in my chapter on asylum politics in the book The State of Race, immigration control is presented as a rational, common-sense approach that aims to match numbers to resources and the needs of the nation-state. Immigration control becomes a matter of rational order, efficiency and good management, uncomplicated by the emotions of 'race' and culture.

As Bauman (2004: 66) observed, 'State powers can do next to nothing to placate, let along quash uncertainty. The most they can do is to refocus on objects within reach'. Romanians and Bulgarians are simply the latest group of migrants targeted as scapegoats as the Coalition government continues with the longstanding formula adopted by governments for displacing the blame for economic uncertainties and fears.

In fact, contrary to the perception that migrants are a drain on public services and finance, recent research from Dustmann and Frattini (2013) at the University College London found that between 2001-2011 EEA migrants in the UK have made a net fiscal contribution of about £22.1 billion. Furthermore, as has long been known, key public services rely on migrant labour to keep them operational (see, for example, the health service where approximately 30% of health professionals are foreign born). In 2006, migrants in the USA undertook a series of protests under the banner 'A Day without Immigrants' in which more than a million Latinos came out on to the streets and boycotted workplaces, shops and schools. As Mehdi Hassan suggested in his article in the New Statesmen in July, a similar boycott by migrants and children of migrants in the UK could bring a whole sectors of services and businesses to a standstill. This is not to say there are not real and legitimate concerns about the resourcing of public services. However, I would suggest that the political spotlight needs to be shifted back to the real challenges which are on the supply side and the neoliberal ideologies lurking behind the policies of austerity An alternative and rather more accurate notion of 'lifeboat politics' would be to recognise that rather than sinking the ship, migrants in fact can help to keep 'host' nations afloat.

Workshop at Keele - call for abstracts

Social and Political Critique in the Age of Austerity

A one day workshop at Keele University

10.30am-6pm, Wednesday 12^th February, 2014

This one day workshop is devoted to the discussion of critical politics in the contemporary age of austerity.  Following the 2007 global economic crash, which led to a raft of government bank bail outs and nationalisations across America and Europe, a cunning ideological reversal took place – the crash was no longer the result of the hubris of the neoliberal financial sector, which had developed the idea of ‘riskless risk’ where reckless stock market speculation and the creation of value ex nihilo could produce endless profit, but rather the immoral wastefulness of the people and society.  According to this ideological position, which was advanced by governments across Europe, the welfare state, and in many respects society itself, was transformed into an ‘exorbitant privilege’ that was simply unaffordable.  In fact, in order to pay for their wastefulness the people were not only expected to give up their public services, but also required to accept ever lower wages, and a general state of social and economic precariousness. 

This is the current state of play across America and Europe, where the neoliberal state has exploited the crash in order to retrofit society for violent competition with Asian capitalism.  In the face of this race to the bottom, key thinkers such as David Graeber, Antonio Negri, Slavoj Zizek, Alain Badiou, and Costas Douzinas have spoken out against the new form Naomi Klein calls neoliberal disaster capitalism and given voice to the protest, rebellion, and revolt taking place across the world.

The objective of this workshop is to build upon the works of these key thinkers and explore the possibility for resistance in the age of austerity.  We invite contributions from a range of disciplines focused on diverse social and political contexts and a variety of theoretical perspectives.  Contributors may choose to focus on austerity and resistance across Europe, including the UK, Greece, Spain, and Italy; the Occupy movement; the media construction of austerity, including the idea of the undeserving poor who are seen to be living off public funds; methods for the organisation of resistance; the concept of the multitude and the digital commons; anti-capitalist thought; or transformative social and political theory and practice more generally.  Most importantly, we are keen to emphasise that this list is not exhaustive - the key principle behind the workshop is that debate should open up a space for social and political creativity. In this way we are keen to encourage potential contributors to be creative and explore new possibilities for political change in a historical period where change seems absolutely necessary, but also impossible to envisage.  In this respect, we encourage contributions from a variety of participants – academics, post-graduate students, activists, and others engaged in thinking through the possibilities of change under conditions of crisis and austerity.

The workshop will close with a lecture from Professor Costas Douzinas (Birkbeck), author of Philosophy and Resistance in the Crisis: Greece and the Future of Europe.

In order to take part in the event please send a 250 word abstract to Emma Head (e.l.head@keele.ac.uk), by Monday 23^rd December.  This event is being organised jointly by Mark Featherstone (Keele Sociology) and Emma Head (Keele Sociology and the BSA Digital Sociology study group).   Registration will open in early January.  Confirmed speakers will be notified by 7^th January. 

Paul Virilio, Zygmunt Bauman, and Hikikomori

by Mark Featherstone

Over the last couple of weeks I have published two new chapters – the first paper is a new version of my piece on the French social theorist Paul Virilio and the idea of the apocalypse. This paper is part of the second edition of a major collection, Critical Digital Studies, edited by the Canadian media theorists Arthur and Marilouise Kroker. The second paper is a piece on the relationship between Virilio and Zygmunt Bauman. This paper entitled Welcome to the Hotel California appears in Mark Davis’ new collection, Liquid Sociology, on Bauman and metaphor. This research formed the backdrop of my current work on Bernard Stiegler and the techno-dystopia because it explores the relationship between technology, globalisation, and a kind of society that is largely indifferent to human suffering. Beyond my article on Stiegler and Einstein’s Nightmare, which will appear in print in the near future, I am currently working on a new paper on the Japanese conditions of hikikomori and otaku and the media object. This work, which is inspired by my time in Japan and continued interest in Japanese society, will preview on my level three module, Sex, Death, and Desire, focused on psychoanalysis and society in the coming months.