“Divide and conquer”. Anti-racist and community organizing under austerity

Harries, B., Byrne, B., Garratt, L. and Smith, A. (2020) “Divide and conquer”. Anti-racist and community organizing under austerity. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 43(16), pp. 20-38. (doi: 10.1080/01419870.2019.1682176)

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of austerity on anti-racist and community organizing. We focus on three key shifts: changes to public funding, the push to entrepreneurialism and the mainstreaming of Equalities legislation. The paper contributes to critical understandings of the changing relationship between civil society and the state and the challenges this creates for working against racism. We highlight how austerity acts as an alibi to further diminish race as a policy concern. Organizations and activists are encouraged to act as entrepreneurs and confront each other as competitors, rather than allies in a political struggle. This leads to a very real sense that solidarities are being deliberately ruptured in order to “divide and conquer” and diminish collective organizing capacity. We illustrate how this is compounded by the cumulative affective consequences of austerity measures, often at considerable costs in terms of a broader collective agenda.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, ES/K002198/1.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Garratt, Dr Lindsey and Smith, Professor Andrew
• Authors: Harries, B., Byrne, B., Garratt, L., and Smith, A.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Journal Name: Ethnic and Racial Studies
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 0141-9870
• ISSN (Online): 1466-4356
• Published Online: 30 October 2019
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Ethnic and Racial Studies 43(16):20-38
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
167861		Understanding the changes in ethnic relations: understanding the dynamics of ethnicity, identity and inequality in the uk - Project Ref: -R115655	Satnam Virdee	Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)	ES/K002198/1	S&PS - Sociology