Applied Social Science? Academic Contributions to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry and Their Consequences

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2115180
AutoresK Murji (0000-0001-7490-7906, The Open University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2010
Volumen39
Número3
Páginas343-357
Fecha de publicación2010-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Social Policy (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0047-2794 • E-ISSN: 1469-7823
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047279409990687
OpenAlexW2169388701
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas16

A decade on from the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, this article examines the contributions of social scientists to the Inquiry on two key issues: the meaning of institutional racism and the police response to racial violence. These academic inputs are characterised as instrumental and reflexive forms of knowledge. While social science applied to social policy is most effective in instrumental mode, rather than reflexively, there are various factors - such as the interpretation of evidence, media debate and the role of prominent individuals - that are more significant in assessing its consequences. The impact of these factors mean that, although academic work on these issues has been influential, the outcome appears to be that institutional racism has run its course and been disowned or downgraded, while racial violence has become subsumed within the broader category of hate crime. It is argued that the relationship between academic knowledge and policy requires a better grasp of the complexities of applying social science, and that is what this article aims to make a contribution to

Criminology · Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy · Meaning (existential · Racism · Reflexivity · Social science · Sociology · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Gender Studies · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Social and Cultural Dynamics