Editorial

8 pages, 197 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Race/Ethnicity, Crime and Social Control: An Introduction

by Tina G. Patel

Soc. Sci. 2018, 7(12), 271; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7120271 - 18 Dec 2018

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 8053

As Cornel West (1993) asserted, ‘race matters’ because it has mattered so much and so significantly in the lives of millions of people. [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Race/Ethnicity, Crime and Social Control)

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25 pages, 4861 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Noise Complaints between Japanese Neighbors and Migrants in Rural Japan: From the Perspectives of Noisemakers

by Median Mutiara

Soc. Sci. 2018, 7(12), 268; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7120268 - 17 Dec 2018

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 8296

Abstract

This paper focuses on the narratives and embodiment of noisemakers in noise complaints in a small town of rural Japan. By building on the intersection of sound studies, body, and migration, this paper aims to critically address the longstanding concept of ‘noise’ through [...] Read more.

This paper focuses on the narratives and embodiment of noisemakers in noise complaints in a small town of rural Japan. By building on the intersection of sound studies, body, and migration, this paper aims to critically address the longstanding concept of ‘noise’ through the overlooked perspectives of migrants who are perceived as ‘noisemakers’ in the neighbor relations between Japanese neighbors and migrants. This study was conducted through months of fieldwork in a small town in Japan, wherein an ethnic concentration of Japanese descendants from North Sulawesi, Indonesia has been established for almost two decades. Sensory ethnography was adopted in addition to participant observation and in-depth interviews that presented the narratives of five Japanese descendants working in seafood processing factories. The findings suggest that perception of the ‘unwanted’ bodily presence becomes a salient metaphorical sense of ‘noise’ which is embodied in migrants as byproducts of the psychological noise of the hearers. This ‘noise’ evokes series of complaints which also escalate into space control in the neighborhood. More than just neighbor relations in negotiating private–public spaces, the phenomena of noisemaking and noise complaints in this study are layered with overlapping unequal social and power structures concerning neighbors, workers, and migrants with stigma of gaijin and ‘noisemakers’. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Race/Ethnicity, Crime and Social Control)

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14 pages, 235 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Black Criminal Other as an Object of Social Control

by Patrick Williams and Becky Clarke

Soc. Sci. 2018, 7(11), 234; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7110234 - 13 Nov 2018

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 14390

Abstract

Throughout this paper, we contend that the ‘gang’ has been appropriated by the state as an ideological device that drives the hypercriminalisation of black, mixed, Asian, and other minority ethnic (BAME) communities. Drawing upon two research studies, we demonstrate how the gang is [...] Read more.

Throughout this paper, we contend that the ‘gang’ has been appropriated by the state as an ideological device that drives the hypercriminalisation of black, mixed, Asian, and other minority ethnic (BAME) communities. Drawing upon two research studies, we demonstrate how the gang is evoked to explain an array of contemporary ‘crime’ problems, which in turn (re)produces racialised objects to be policed. With particular reference to collective punishments, we suggest that “gang-branding” is critical to the development of guilt-producing associations that facilitate the arrest, charging, and prosecution of countless numbers of BAME people for offences they did not commit. As such, there is now an urgent need to ‘take seriously’ the criminalising intents of a dangerous criminology of the Other, which legitimises intrusive racist policing and surveillance, and justifies the imposition of deliberate harms upon racialised communities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Race/Ethnicity, Crime and Social Control)

16 pages, 1189 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Black and Minority Ethnic Boys and Custody in England and Wales: Understanding Subjective Experiences through an Analysis of Official Data

by Ravinder Barn, Martina Feilzer and Nick Hardwick

Soc. Sci. 2018, 7(11), 226; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7110226 - 08 Nov 2018

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 8823

Abstract

Recent years have seen a dramatic shift in youth justice outcomes and a fall in the number of children drawn into the youth justice system in England and Wales. However, it appears that children from some backgrounds have not benefited as much as [...] Read more.

Recent years have seen a dramatic shift in youth justice outcomes and a fall in the number of children drawn into the youth justice system in England and Wales. However, it appears that children from some backgrounds have not benefited as much as others from this change. There is a wealth of academic literature on processes of criminalisation, policies, and practices of youth justice and the experiences of children, particularly boys, in custody. However, there is little detailed understanding of how these processes, policies, and practices affect children from different backgrounds. This paper examines the most intrusive aspect of youth justice, namely, custodial sentences. Through an examination of the Inspectorate of Prisons’ reports and associated surveys, this paper seeks to explore black and minority ethnic boys’ perceptions of their experiences of custody. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Race/Ethnicity, Crime and Social Control)

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13 pages, 312 KiB

Open AccessArticle

‘If Your Hair Is Relaxed, White People Are Relaxed. If Your Hair Is Nappy, They’re Not Happy’: Black Hair as a Site of ‘Post-Racial’ Social Control in English Schools

by Remi Joseph-Salisbury and Laura Connelly

Soc. Sci. 2018, 7(11), 219; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7110219 - 01 Nov 2018

Cited by 33 | Viewed by 25339

Abstract

A growing body of literature examines how social control is embedded within, and enacted through, key social institutions generally, and how it impacts disproportionately upon racially minoritised people specifically. Despite this, little attention has been given to the minutiae of these forms of [...] Read more.

A growing body of literature examines how social control is embedded within, and enacted through, key social institutions generally, and how it impacts disproportionately upon racially minoritised people specifically. Despite this, little attention has been given to the minutiae of these forms of social control. Centring Black hair as a site of social control, and using a contemporary case study to illustrate, this article argues that it is through such forms of routine discipline that conditions of white supremacy are maintained and perpetuated. Whilst our entry into a ‘post-racial’ epoch means school policies are generally thought of as race-neutral or ‘colorblind’, we draw attention to how they (re)produce and normalise surface-level manifestations of anti-Blackness. Situating Black hair as a form of ‘racial symbolism’ and showing Black hairstyles to be significant to Black youth, we show that the governance of hair is not neutral but instead, acts as a form of social control that valorises whiteness and pathologises Blackness. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Race/Ethnicity, Crime and Social Control)

17 pages, 288 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Islamophobia in Australia: From Far-Right Deplorables to Respectable Liberals

by Scott Poynting and Linda Briskman

Soc. Sci. 2018, 7(11), 213; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7110213 - 30 Oct 2018

Cited by 32 | Viewed by 14059

Abstract

In Australia since about the turn of the millennium, discrimination against Muslims has been increasingly normalized, made respectable, and presented as prudent precaution against violent extremism. Vilification of Muslims has posed as defending ‘Australian values’ against those who will not integrate. Liberal political [...] Read more.

In Australia since about the turn of the millennium, discrimination against Muslims has been increasingly normalized, made respectable, and presented as prudent precaution against violent extremism. Vilification of Muslims has posed as defending ‘Australian values’ against those who will not integrate. Liberal political leaders and press leader-writers who formerly espoused cultural pluralism now routinely hold up as inimical the Muslim folk devil by whose otherness the boundaries of acceptability of the national culture may be marked out and policed. The Muslim Other is positioned not only as culturally incommensurate, but dangerously so: dishonest, criminally inclined, violent, misogynist, homophobic, backward, uncivilized. On the far right, extremist nationalist organizations incite racist hatred under cover of this rhetoric, often cloaked as reasonable common sense. This paper undertakes an ideology analysis of political and media discussion, and examines the forms of social control that they advance and sustain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Race/Ethnicity, Crime and Social Control)

10 pages, 770 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Housing Discrimination and Health: Understanding Potential Linking Pathways Using a Mixed-Methods Approach

by Roshanak Mehdipanah, Jessica Ramirez, Shanti Abedin and Sherrill F. Brown

Soc. Sci. 2018, 7(10), 194; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7100194 - 12 Oct 2018

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5624

Abstract

Few studies have examined the impact of housing discrimination on health. This study explores potential pathways linking housing discrimination and health using concept mapping, a mixed-method approach. Participants included employees from twenty Fair Housing Organizations nationwide who participated in two online sessions, brainstorming, [...] Read more.

Few studies have examined the impact of housing discrimination on health. This study explores potential pathways linking housing discrimination and health using concept mapping, a mixed-method approach. Participants included employees from twenty Fair Housing Organizations nationwide who participated in two online sessions, brainstorming, and structuring. Responses were generated representing biological, social, economic, and physical connections between housing discrimination and health. Using hierarchical cluster analysis, five clusters were identified: (1) Access and barriers; (2) Opportunities for growth; (3) Neighborhood and communities; (4) Physical effects of housing discrimination; and (5) Mental health. Clusters 1 (4.09) and 2 (4.08) were rated as most important for health, while clusters 2 (3.93) and 3 (3.90) were rated as most frequently occurring. These findings add to the limited evidence connecting housing discrimination to health and highlight the need for studies focusing on the long-term health effects of housing discrimination on individuals and neighborhoods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Race/Ethnicity, Crime and Social Control)

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11 pages, 210 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Do Police Officers in the USA Protect and Serve All Citizens Equally?

by William De Soto

Soc. Sci. 2018, 7(10), 190; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7100190 - 09 Oct 2018

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 7184

Abstract

Survey research has clarified the extent to which racial minorities and majority white Americans disagree about whether police should be trusted. Racial minorities are generally far more suspicious of the police officers who serve their communities. Other forms of evidence would appear to [...] Read more.

Survey research has clarified the extent to which racial minorities and majority white Americans disagree about whether police should be trusted. Racial minorities are generally far more suspicious of the police officers who serve their communities. Other forms of evidence would appear to corroborate the views of minority citizens in the USA. This requires scholars and others interested in policing to think about reforms that may create a fairer system of law enforcement. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Race/Ethnicity, Crime and Social Control)

13 pages, 251 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effects of Poverty and Prison on British Muslim Men Who Offend

by Colin Webster and Mohammed Qasim

Soc. Sci. 2018, 7(10), 184; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7100184 - 02 Oct 2018

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3924

Abstract

Focusing on the lives of British Muslim young men, this article examines the links between their social and economic relations and their prison experiences, desistance, and identity. In understanding the meanings they place on their prison experiences and their social and economic marginalization, [...] Read more.

Focusing on the lives of British Muslim young men, this article examines the links between their social and economic relations and their prison experiences, desistance, and identity. In understanding the meanings they place on their prison experiences and their social and economic marginalization, the article theorises about social integration, and their place in British society. An intergenerational shift from the availability of local high-waged, skilled, and secure textile work to low-waged, precarious, service work presented them with a series of problems and opportunities, leading them to reject licit wage labour and embrace illicit entrepreneurial criminality. The article concludes that their social and economic relations drove criminal solutions, not ethnicity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Race/Ethnicity, Crime and Social Control)

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