Originally published in Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 1977, Vol 22(9), 721–722 Reviews the book, Investigative social research: Individual and team field research by Jack D Douglas (1976) This is an absorbing, intrepid, alternately winning and exasperating book It is a rambling a

Investigative social research: Individual and team field research

Using violence or threat of violence, "thugs-for-hire" (TFH) is a form of privatized coercion that helps states to subjugate recalcitrant population. This paper lays out three scope conditions under which TFH is the preferred strategy: a) when state actions are illegal or policies are unpopular; b) when evasion of state responsibility is highly desirable; and c) when states are weak in their capacity and/or have low relative strength from society. Weak states relatively to strong ones are more likely to deploy TFH, mostly for the purpose of bolstering their coercive capacity. Strong states use TFH for evasion of responsibility. Yet, state-TFH relationship is functional only if the state is able to maintain an upper hand over the violent agents. Focusing on China, a seemingly paradoxical case due to its traditional perception of being a strong state, I examine how local states frequently deploy TFH to evict homeowners, enforce one-child policy, collect exorbitant exactions, and to deal with petitioners and protestors. However, the increasing prevalence of "local mafia states" suggests some of the thuggish groups have grown to usurp local governments’ autonomy. This underlines the cost of relying upon TFH as a repressive strategy.

'Thugs-for-Hire': Subcontracting of State Coercion and State Capacity in China

‘Muslim grooming gangs’ have become a defining feature of media, political and public debate around child sexual exploitation in the UK. The dominant narrative that has emerged to explain a series of horrific cases is misleading, sensationalist and has in itself promoted a number of harms. This article examines how racist framings of ‘Muslim grooming gangs’ exist not only in extremist, far-right fringes but in mainstream, liberal discourses too. The involvement of supposedly feminist and liberal actors and the promotion of pseudoscientific ‘research’ have lent a veneer of legitimacy to essentialist, Orientalist stereotypes of Muslim men, the demonisation of whole communities and demands for collective responsibility. These developments are situated in the broader socio-political context, including the far Right’s weaponisation of women’s rights, the ‘Islamophobia industry’ and a long history of racialising crime. We propose alternative ways of understanding and responding to child sexual exploitation/abuse. We contend that genuinely anti-racist feminist approaches can help in centring victims/survivors and their needs and in tackling serious sexual violence without demonising entire communities.

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Failing victims, fuelling hate: challenging the harms of the ‘Muslim grooming gangs’ narrative:

In 2015, the UK government made its counter‐radicalisation policy a statutory duty for all National Health Service (NHS) staff. Staff are now tasked to identify and report individuals they suspect may be vulnerable to radicalisation. Prevent training employs a combination of psychological and ideological frames to convey the meaning of radicalisation to healthcare staff, but studies have shown that the threat of terrorism is racialised as well. The guiding question of our ethnography is: how is counter‐radicalisation training understood and practiced by healthcare professionals? A frame analysis draws upon 2 years of ethnographic fieldwork, which includes participant observation in Prevent training and NHS staff interviews. This article demonstrates how Prevent engages in performative colour‐blindness – the active recognition and dismissal of the race frame which associates racialised Muslims with the threat of terrorism. It concludes with a discussion of institutional racism in the NHS – how racialised policies like Prevent impact the minutia of clinical interactions; how the pretence of a ‘post‐racial’ society obscures institutional racism; how psychologisation is integral to the performance of colour‐blindness; and why it is difficult to address the racism associated with colourblind policies which purport to address the threat of the Far‐Right.

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Islamophobia in the National Health Service: an ethnography of institutional racism in PREVENT's counter‐radicalisation policy

This article considers the relationship between (mis)recognition, inequality and social activism through the lens of young Muslims’ response to their positioning as ‘suspect communities’. It draws ...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0038038519867630

Not Entitled to Talk: (Mis)recognition, Inequality and Social Activism of Young Muslims:

As anti-Muslim undercurrents in the United States and other western societies become increasingly entrenched, the phenomenon of Islamophobia--and the need to understand what perpetuates it--has never been greater. Critiquing mainstream, conservative, and notionally left arguments, What Is Islamophobia? offers an original and necessary alternative to the existing literature by analyzing what the editors call the five pillars of Islamophobia: the institutions and machinery of the state, the counter-jihad movement, the neoconservative movement, the transnational Zionist movement, and assorted liberal groups, including the pro-war left and the new atheist movement. Together, the contributors demonstrate that this emergent racism is not simply a product of ideology, but is driven by a combination of social, political, and cultural factors. What Is Islamophobia? concludes with reflections on existing strategies for tackling this growing issue and considers different approaches to countering anti-Muslim prejudice.

What is Islamophobia?: Racism, Social Movements and the State

In this article, we propose a sociological model for the assessment of ethics in research on conflict and terrorism. We move beyond the rather narrow, procedural approaches that currently dominate ...

/pdf/the-ethics-of-researching-terrorism-and-political-violence-a-vrp8zwh9tp.pdf

The ethics of researching ‘terrorism’ and political violence: a sociological approach

Research on social movements shows a bias towards movements that oppose the status quo. Consequently, state–movement relations are primarily characterised as antagonistic. Where cooperative relatio...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0038038521996977

The Role of Civil Society in Political Repression: The UK Prevent Counter-Terrorism Programme:

This article calls for more understanding of the ethical challenges and dilemmas that arise as a result of state involvement in academic research on ‘terrorism’ and ‘extremism’. It suggests that re...

/pdf/secrecy-coercion-and-deception-in-research-on-terrorism-and-1xpezacj4q.pdf

Secrecy, coercion and deception in research on ‘terrorism’ and ‘extremism’

It’s becoming much harder for UK academics to discuss issues such as conflict and terrorism.

Narzanin Massoumi

Papers

What is Islamophobia?: Racism, Social Movements and the State

The ethics of researching ‘terrorism’ and political violence: a sociological approach

The Role of Civil Society in Political Repression: The UK Prevent Counter-Terrorism Programme:

Secrecy, coercion and deception in research on ‘terrorism’ and ‘extremism’

University research on terrorism may never be free from interference