Programme full

Friday 17 April 2015 09:00 - 10:30
ROUNDTABLE SESSIONS
historical precedents with how other migrant communities have been received (and how future migrant communities
might be 'welcomed').
Everyday Racism: The Racialisation of Perceived ‘Others’ in Social Space
Naughton, A.
(National University of Ireland, Galway)
The Republic of Ireland is notable among European countries by the current, and historical absence of far-right
political parties. It could be argued that this absence of far-right political parties in Irish politics points to a less racist
and more tolerant society, however Garner (2004) argues that the absence of far-right political parties, among other
issues, demonstrates how racism in Ireland has been influenced by specific socio-historical contexts. This paper
argues that a focus on racialisation in everyday social interaction is useful in analysing racism in the Republic of
Ireland. Using a continuum of racisms (Garner, 2010 and Jiwani and Richardson, 2011), different types of racism(s)
can be positioned, ranging from racist verbal abuse and racist violence to banal, everyday racism. This use of a
continuum positions the everyday as important in the overall analysis of racism.
This paper presents a theoretical framework of the everyday which has been utilised to investigate everyday racism in
the West of Ireland. Essed's concept of everyday racism (1991) is developed using Bourdieu's concepts of social
space, field and habitus to describe experiences of everyday racism in the lives of people perceived as racialised
'others' in Irish society. The data presented is part of a qualitative PhD research project to investigate everyday
racism in the West of Ireland. The experiences of research participants demonstrate how exclusion is a part of
everyday life in social space for those perceived as 'other'.
Sociability and Isolation among European Migrants
Bartram, D.
(University of Leicester)
Consensus in extant research on migrants' experiences is that migrants experience a higher degree of social isolation
after migration, at least temporarily. Difficulties of language and cultural difference impede the formation of social ties;
at a minimum, making new friends in a new location takes time. This picture, however, emerges primarily from
qualitative research projects investigating a limited range of specific migration streams. This paper develops a
broader analysis of sociability among migrants moving within Europe, using data from the European Social Survey
enabling comparison of migrants to stayers in the countries the migrants left. While migrants in some streams do
experience lower levels of sociability and higher rates of isolation (compared to rates among stayers in the
corresponding origin countries), migrants in other streams experience significantly higher sociability and lower rates of
isolation. Migration leads to greater isolation for some migrants, but for others their degree of social connectedness is
evidently higher; the consequences of migration for sociability are by no means as uniform as previous research might
be read to suggest.
Rights, Violence and Crime 1
ROUNDTABLE 18, CONFERENCE HALL, HAMISH WOOD BUILDING
Cybergang: The Role of Social Media in Urban Street Gangs
Harding, S.
(Middlesex University)
Cybergang: young people, social media and the street gang
This session will consider the role and impact of social media on young people within the social field of the violent
urban street gang. In recent years aspects of new social media have quickly utilised by young people affiliated to
violent street gangs. Aspects of social media are now used to groom, recruit, stalk, harass, pressurise and provoke
other young people both intergang and intra-gang. Social media is used for brand building and brand marketing,
reputational marketing and building group narrative and mythology. This process can increase levels of violence and
expand the reach of the gang social field. This then effectively operates as a new gang space. It has its own
vocabulary and grammar, its own rules and ways of working.
This new gang space also poses considerable challenges for police and practitioners seeking to work with gangs or to
investigate them.
BSA Annual Conference 2015 244
Glasgow Caledonian University