79 FOUR Sociology and institutional racism1 All the approaches to scholarly engagement discussed in Chapter Three looks towards a more outward-facing academy, although there are significant differences in what that should entail. Institutional racism, especially in the Macpherson inquiry (1999), provides a way into understanding public engagement by social scientists; it also sets the scene for assessing the impact of social science in policy and practice, and the academic–policy interface. These issues are developed in this chapter and the following two
The publication of the Inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence emphasised the institutionally racist nature of British society. Public bodies and welfare institutions are having to face the consequences of racism within their organisations. This task should draw on the earlier experience of the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work’s (CCETSW) anti-racist agenda, whose initiative came under attack from government ministers, media commentators and sections of the social work profession.
This book describes and analyses the development of anti-racist social work education and training and moves on to a broader debate: it critically assesses the concept of ‘race’, the historical development and maintenance of racism in contemporary British society, exploring ‘race-related’ legislation and its theoretical underpinnings; it offers an historical exploration of the role of social work and its relationship with, and response to, the needs of deprived and marginalised communities; it provides an assessment of the backlash against CCETSW’s anti-racist developments from politicians, the media and sections of the social work profession, incorporating a debate regarding charges of political correctness.
Issues such as ‘political correctness’ and ‘identity politics’ are critically explored, and the implications of these political processes on the anti-racist policy agenda are assessed. The analysis reflects on both the possibilities and limitations placed on establishing anti-racist policies.
Tackling institutional racism will be of particular interest to Diploma in Social Work students, social work practitioners and academics, social policy undergraduates and postgraduates. It should also be read by professionals at different levels in the policy-making process, particularly those working directly with, acting on behalf of, or pursuing, the interests of the black community.
57 THREE Equality, inequalities and institutional racism How do we tackle racial injustice not self-evidently sustained by individual motives alone, nor formally supported in public policy? This is what is at the heart of institutional racism – something that draws our focus to conventions and away from stated objectives in the continuation and proliferation of racial inequality. One word that relates to what is being described here is ‘unwitting’, and this is precisely how institutional racism came to be understood in an inquiry into the London
119 SIX The end(s) of institutional racism1 The double rise of institutional racism in Britain, once from the late 1960s and then in the late 1990s – is an extraordinary example of an idea moving from a radical or revolutionary movement into social science (Chapter Four), and then from the margins into the mainstream, becoming part of public policy initiatives that focused on institutions rather than on individuals and on structures as well as processes (Chapter Five). In spite of its prominence following the publication of the Macpherson report (1999
the Scarman Report was commissioned following the 1981 riots in the Brixton area of London. The reports recognised the impact of ‘institutional racism’ and social inequalities, while the lasting populist legacy of Enoch Powell remains a forewarning of the perceived dangers of immigration most popularly characterised by his 1968 ‘rivers of blood’ speech. Institutional racism ( Phillips, 2011 ) as a concept helps to put this in context by recognising an ontology of racism that goes beyond agential understandings of ‘bad apples’ and individual actions. Alongside
to what actually happened is necessarily limited. But the chapter highlights three ‘ingredients’ to the scandal that, together, have moved undercover policing into the national spotlight. First, the practices and strategies of the undercover policing units cannot be divorced from institutional racism. Second, the revelations that undercover police targeted women for infiltration, deceiving many into intimate relationships that lasted years, extended the narratives of abuse to a latent, yet institutionalised, sexism at the heart of policing. Third, the infiltration
Social workers are required to be aware of changing social contexts and their impact on service user communities. Many social workers writing about anti-racist practice in the 1980s would have followed Sivanandan’s (1982) critique of local authority ‘multiculturalism’. Sivanandan’s case was that too often policies of multiculturalism were reduced to a celebration of ‘steel-bands, samosas and saris’, whilst institutional and structural racism was ignored. But from a perspective contemporary, the attack on multiculturalism has shifted the political terrain. Multiculturalism is being used as a code word by politicians to attack migration and the pressence of minority communities in Britain itself – themes that are addressed in this chapter in a nuanced ‘defence’ of multiculturalism in the face of the present political assault.
topic of institutional racism. It looks at some key academic contributions to the Macpherson inquiry, to indicate impact The impacts of social science 102 Racism, policy and politics in the wider sense outlined previously. This extends the discussion started in Chapter Four and, to provide another angle, I add an examination of academic evidence to Macpherson on the policing of racist attacks. Through these two examples I argue that impact then (or now) does not take place in a straightforward or linear manner; it is, at best, ‘a wavy line’ as Hall (1982
community. Factoring in relevant literature suggesting that aspects of policing may still suffer from institutional racism, the chapter explores what happens when gender is also a factor in police handling of sexual abuse cases/reports. In this context, it considers why British South Asian women do not report sexual abuse to the police and considers what more can be done to encourage increased reporting in this, and other Black and racially minoritized communities. Intersectional feminist analysis of sexual abuse in South Asian communities Debates about
and the ‘subject’ of research. Using two of my journal entries during lockdown, one during pregnancy and the other after childbirth, I will explore how racial justice protests during the pandemic reveal Black millennials willingness to shatter institutional racism. Generating auto-ethnographic research on Black millennial resistance during the pandemic acknowledges and validates Black millennials’ perspectives of resistance. This discussion builds on the scholarly discourse of Black resistance in Britain through the lens of a Black millennial mother. Mimi ni a
