Programme full

Wednesday 15 April 2015 16:00 - 17:30
PAPER SESSION 3
and voters. Here the discussion will show that such discursive and performative repertoires are not new but in fact
strategies that have been employed by both the British National Party and the English Defence League in recent
years. In conclusion, it will be argued that it is vital that we understand these issues and complexities, particularly in
relation to cultural racisms and the contradictory nature of racism more generally, if we are to be able to make antiracist
interventions in the public sphere.
We're Just Ourselves, They're Not Themselves: Authenticity, Racism and Symbolic Violence
Garratt, L.
(University of Manchester)
The aim of this paper is to examine the role of authenticity as a moral orientation and social evaluation of migrant
groups. I will argue that misrecognising behaviour as 'inauthentic' disguises and legitimises racism within micro
encounters. Using evidence from a qualitative study of migrant origin children in Dublin Ireland, I will contend that
being recognised as 'authentic' is bound within racist and gendered conceptions of whom can be said to legitimately
embody nationally and locally authorised dispositions and identity markers. This paper will close by examining the
belief that one can have a 'true self' which one is aware of, can enact or cynically disguise. I will propose that in this
study at least, authenticity is better understood as a form of doxa which symbolically dominates minority groups and
silences discussions on racism.
Experienced Racism and Discrimination: Quantifying Its Contribution to Health Inequalities, and to the
Burden on Health of Ethnic Minorities
Wallace, S., Becares, L., Nazroo, J.
(University of Manchester)
Longstanding evidence documents ethnic inequalities in health, which have been partly attributed to lower
socioeconomic resources and experienced racial discrimination. Studies show that racial discrimination impacts on
health both indirectly, through patterning social inequalities, and directly, by leading to increased stress, hypertension,
and psychological distress. However, most studies are cross-sectional, and we cannot ascertain how racial
discrimination leads to ethnic inequalities in health across time, or what the burden of experiences of racism and
discrimination is on the health of ethnic minorities over time.
This study uses longitudinal data from Understanding Society to examine the longitudinal association between
experienced racism at Wave 1, and mental health at Wave 2. Analyses examine the impact that several measures of
racial discrimination, including feeling unsafe, avoiding a place, having been insulted, having been harassed, and
having experienced employment discrimination in the past year due to one's ethnicity, nationality or religion, have on
the mental health of ethnic minorities over time. We also examine the contribution of these measures of experienced
racism and discrimination on changes in mental health across ethnic minority groups, as compared to the White
British group.
Results show a clear, strong longitudinal association between having experienced racial insults or harassment and
deterioration in mental health among ethnic minorities. We find some evidence for the direct contribution of
experienced racism and discrimination on ethnic health inequalities across time, although results show that the
contribution of racism on ethnic health inequalities operates mainly via structuring longstanding socioeconomic
inequalities across ethnic groups.
Prevalence of Racist Violence, Fear of Violence, and Discrimination: How Have Things Changed?
Nazroo, J., Becares, L., Wallace, S.
(University of Manchester)
Experiences of racism and discrimination, and concern about the possibility of such events occurring, are a defining
characteristic of the lives of ethnic minority people in the UK (and elsewhere). Although we have seen shifts in
legislation and in expressed attitudes, and some evidence suggesting a growth in opportunities and spaces for more
convivial encounters across ethnic groupings, ongoing deeply rooted economic inequalities suggest that racialized
ethnic identities continue to carry significance in everyday life. Nevertheless, it is likely that changing patterns of
racialization – in part as a product of broad social and political change and in part as a result of anti-racist activity – will
be reflected in changes in the patterning of experiences of racism and discrimination within and across ethnic minority
groups.
To explore these issues we use data on reported experiences of racist violence, fear of violence and experiences and
expectations of discrimination that have been collected in a number of surveys since 1994, using similar methods and
questionnaire designs. This gives us 20 years of data to examine how such experiences have changed over time and
BSA Annual Conference 2015 126
Glasgow Caledonian University