Opportunities and Limitations for Collective Resistance Arising from Volunteering by Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Northern England

Vickers, Tom (2016) Opportunities and Limitations for Collective Resistance Arising from Volunteering by Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Northern England. Critical Sociology, 42 (3). pp. 437-454. ISSN 0896-9205

[img]
Preview
PDF
The_potential_and_limitations_of_collective_resistance..Critical_Sociology-accepted.pdf - Accepted Version

Download (210kB) | Preview
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0896920514526623

Abstract

This article asks whether volunteering by refugees and asylum seekers holds potential to foster collective resistance to the British state’s increasingly punitive asylum policies. It draws on research that included four organizational case studies and in-depth qualitative interviews with refugees and asylum seekers volunteering in a city in Northern England, and analyses this data using inter-related concepts of contradiction, hegemony and social capital. This research found that volunteering by refugees and asylum seekers had potential to contribute to cohesive social blocs that might form a basis for resistance, yet also exhibited tendencies to divide refugees and encourage individualised forms of action, which reinforced a subordinate position for the majority. The article concludes that realizing the potential of voluntary activity as a basis for collective resistance to the state’s asylum policies may require it to be combined with political education and organization.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Marxism, hegemony, collective action, social capital, state
Subjects: L300 Sociology
L400 Social Policy
L500 Social Work
Department: Faculties > Arts, Design and Social Sciences > Social Sciences
Depositing User: Tom Vickers
Date Deposited: 04 Jun 2014 11:43
Last Modified: 17 Dec 2023 15:01
URI: https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/16503

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics