Gurnam Singh
Biographic Data
| ID | 4011610 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gurnam Singh |
| GIVEN NAMES | Gurnam |
| FAMILY NAME | Singh |
| SIGNATURE | SINGH G |
| AFFILIATIONS | Coventry University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 105 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 17 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1983 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Introduction to the special issue
Social work with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people
This article addresses the complex dynamics surrounding unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the UK. While states are legally bound to provide refuge under such treaties as the 1951 Refugee Convention, political considerations often lead to the implementation of social control mechanisms that may compromise the rights and dignity of displaced individuals. The most recent restrictive immigration legislation, which raises concerns about potenti…
Community cohesion, communitarianism and neoliberalism
Policy discourse around ‘community cohesion’ has displaced liberal multiculturalist and anti-racist approaches with a much narrower focus on the promotion of ‘British values’ and, for minority communities, through a ‘faith’ agenda. We argue that these developments derive from the predominance of the doctrine of communitarianism within the contemporary policy terrain, influencing both New Labour and the Conservatives. The convergence of this with …
Post-racial pedagogy – challenges and possibilities
Against the backdrop of ongoing discussions about how best to conceptualise, confront and ultimately eradicate racism, this paper seeks to critically examine the relevance of ‘post-racial’ thinking, both in a general sense, but also in relation to education. The argument is framed around a concern that multi-cultural, and to a lesser extent, anti-racist approaches have become hostage to the very same essentialising practices around ‘race’ thinkin…
The intensification of neoliberalism and the commodification of human need – a social work perspective
Marx and Engels (1848) in the Manifesto of the Communist Party explained how the drive towards the commodification of human society could be seen essentially as a manifestation of the territorial expansion of capitalist relations. While this expansion continues apace, this article argues that the contemporary period, often referred to as neoliberalism, can be characterised in terms of the intensification of those very same capitalist social relat…
Part two Response to Tariq Modood – Accommodating religions
A key intention of our original paper was to open up a discussion about the increasing influence that religious groups are having on social policy in the UK. In this regard, we very much welcome Professor Tariq Modood’s response and contribution to the debate on ‘multiculturalism’s new fault lines’. The concern we expressed in our original argument focused on the increasing accommodation of religion within state multiculturalism in both general t…
Nehruvian Vision of Global Order and its Relevance in the Twenty-first Century
Rejecting the various ‘World Order Models’ being projected as a panacea for a lasting peace, Nehru visualised ‘World Union’ based on democratic principles to create an egalitarian social and economic order across the globe and to eliminate the recurring phenomena of conflict and tension which produce wars at regular intervals. The perceived ‘World Government’ could provide a platform to manage and eliminate the modern forms of warfare: ethnic con…
Multiculturalism’s new fault lines
This paper seeks to critically examine the emergence of contemporary religious fundamentalisms and how they have been able to acquire influence in a way that has opened new ‘fault lines’ within multiculturalist public policy discourse. Specifically, the paper is interested in understanding the curiously paradoxical place of religion and faith based groupings in the contemporary multicultural polity, and the confusion, and in some instances confli…
The social worker as intellectual
This paper examines the state of intellectual activity within social work under the conditions of neo-liberalism. It is motivated by concern with the demise of what previously was termed ‘bottom-up’ social work and a growing sense of despair amongst front line social workers regarding their capacity to engage with users, citizens and communities in ways other than those determined by managerial and regulatory mechanisms. This leads us into a disc…
The ‘User’
‘User Involvement’ has become the new mantra in Public Services with professionals constantly being reminded that ‘user knows best’. The pur pose of this paper is to ask where the preoccupation with ‘the User’ comes from and to pose some questions about what ‘User Involvement’ actually means. Within our paper we see three issues as central within this. The first is a consideration of the historical antecedents of the discourse of ‘User Involvemen…
Sikhism's Emancipatory Discourses
Against the backdrop of globalisation, and the attendant instability in the global economic order, coupled with an apparent upsurge in local, regional and international conflicts based on various kinds of group identification (race, ethnicity, religion etc), the promises of western progress, of modernity and civilisation are becoming increasing incredulous. The temporal and spatial distortions caused by globalisation, underpinned by economic, cul…
Empowerment and advocacy
The concepts of empowerment and advocacy, and how they impinge on power relationships for service providers working with black and Asian communities, are explored through the findings of a 20-month project carried out between 2000 and 2001 with 19 Pakistani and Bangladeshi families who have children with severe disabilities in Birmingham. This action research project evaluated an advocacy project designed to improve the quality of life for Pakist…
Attitudes towards disability amongst Pakistani and Bangladeshi parents of disabled children in the UK
It has sometimes been assumed that religiously based explanations for and attitudes to having a disabled child have led to the low uptake of health and social services by ethnic minority families in the UK. A series of semi-structured interviews were held between 1999 and 2001 with 19 Pakistani and Bangladeshi families with a disabled child as part of an evaluation of an advocacy service. The families' understandings of the causes of their child'…
Disadvantage and Discrimination Compounded
This paper discusses a qualitative and quantitative study of the circumstances of 20 Pakistani and Bangladeshi families with one or more severely disabled children living in Birmingham, England. Parents and other adult carers were interviewed using a combination of structured questionnaires and a semi-structured interview schedule focusing on the families' material circumstances, their use of formal services, informal care arrangements, and aspec…
Disability, Ethnicity and Childhood
Whilst there is an increasing body of literature on the perspectives of carers of disabled children, there is little research giving the disabled child's perspective from either majority or minority populations. Indeed, the voices of black and Asian children in disability research have been almost silent. This literature review collates and analyses existing knowledge about the perceptions held by disabled and non-disabled children, and young peo…
China and the Indian Ocean Region
China's Normalization Diplomacy Towards India
The ‘User’
‘User Involvement’ has become the new mantra in Public Services with professionals constantly being reminded that ‘user knows best’. The pur pose of this paper is to ask where the preoccupation with ‘the User’ comes from and to pose some questions about what ‘User Involvement’ actually means. Within our paper we see three issues as central within this. The first is a consideration of the historical antecedents of the discourse of ‘User Involvemen…
Disadvantage and Discrimination Compounded
This paper discusses a qualitative and quantitative study of the circumstances of 20 Pakistani and Bangladeshi families with one or more severely disabled children living in Birmingham, England. Parents and other adult carers were interviewed using a combination of structured questionnaires and a semi-structured interview schedule focusing on the families' material circumstances, their use of formal services, informal care arrangements, and aspec…
The social worker as intellectual
This paper examines the state of intellectual activity within social work under the conditions of neo-liberalism. It is motivated by concern with the demise of what previously was termed ‘bottom-up’ social work and a growing sense of despair amongst front line social workers regarding their capacity to engage with users, citizens and communities in ways other than those determined by managerial and regulatory mechanisms. This leads us into a disc…
The intensification of neoliberalism and the commodification of human need – a social work perspective
Marx and Engels (1848) in the Manifesto of the Communist Party explained how the drive towards the commodification of human society could be seen essentially as a manifestation of the territorial expansion of capitalist relations. While this expansion continues apace, this article argues that the contemporary period, often referred to as neoliberalism, can be characterised in terms of the intensification of those very same capitalist social relat…
Multiculturalism’s new fault lines
This paper seeks to critically examine the emergence of contemporary religious fundamentalisms and how they have been able to acquire influence in a way that has opened new ‘fault lines’ within multiculturalist public policy discourse. Specifically, the paper is interested in understanding the curiously paradoxical place of religion and faith based groupings in the contemporary multicultural polity, and the confusion, and in some instances confli…
Community cohesion, communitarianism and neoliberalism
Policy discourse around ‘community cohesion’ has displaced liberal multiculturalist and anti-racist approaches with a much narrower focus on the promotion of ‘British values’ and, for minority communities, through a ‘faith’ agenda. We argue that these developments derive from the predominance of the doctrine of communitarianism within the contemporary policy terrain, influencing both New Labour and the Conservatives. The convergence of this with …
Attitudes towards disability amongst Pakistani and Bangladeshi parents of disabled children in the UK
It has sometimes been assumed that religiously based explanations for and attitudes to having a disabled child have led to the low uptake of health and social services by ethnic minority families in the UK. A series of semi-structured interviews were held between 1999 and 2001 with 19 Pakistani and Bangladeshi families with a disabled child as part of an evaluation of an advocacy service. The families' understandings of the causes of their child'…
Empowerment and advocacy
The concepts of empowerment and advocacy, and how they impinge on power relationships for service providers working with black and Asian communities, are explored through the findings of a 20-month project carried out between 2000 and 2001 with 19 Pakistani and Bangladeshi families who have children with severe disabilities in Birmingham. This action research project evaluated an advocacy project designed to improve the quality of life for Pakist…
Social work with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people
This article addresses the complex dynamics surrounding unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the UK. While states are legally bound to provide refuge under such treaties as the 1951 Refugee Convention, political considerations often lead to the implementation of social control mechanisms that may compromise the rights and dignity of displaced individuals. The most recent restrictive immigration legislation, which raises concerns about potenti…
Part two Response to Tariq Modood – Accommodating religions
A key intention of our original paper was to open up a discussion about the increasing influence that religious groups are having on social policy in the UK. In this regard, we very much welcome Professor Tariq Modood’s response and contribution to the debate on ‘multiculturalism’s new fault lines’. The concern we expressed in our original argument focused on the increasing accommodation of religion within state multiculturalism in both general t…
China and the Indian Ocean Region
China's Normalization Diplomacy Towards India
China and the Indian Ocean Region
Disability, Ethnicity and Childhood
Whilst there is an increasing body of literature on the perspectives of carers of disabled children, there is little research giving the disabled child's perspective from either majority or minority populations. Indeed, the voices of black and Asian children in disability research have been almost silent. This literature review collates and analyses existing knowledge about the perceptions held by disabled and non-disabled children, and young peo…
Disadvantage and Discrimination Compounded
This paper discusses a qualitative and quantitative study of the circumstances of 20 Pakistani and Bangladeshi families with one or more severely disabled children living in Birmingham, England. Parents and other adult carers were interviewed using a combination of structured questionnaires and a semi-structured interview schedule focusing on the families' material circumstances, their use of formal services, informal care arrangements, and aspec…
Attitudes towards disability amongst Pakistani and Bangladeshi parents of disabled children in the UK
It has sometimes been assumed that religiously based explanations for and attitudes to having a disabled child have led to the low uptake of health and social services by ethnic minority families in the UK. A series of semi-structured interviews were held between 1999 and 2001 with 19 Pakistani and Bangladeshi families with a disabled child as part of an evaluation of an advocacy service. The families' understandings of the causes of their child'…
Empowerment and advocacy
The concepts of empowerment and advocacy, and how they impinge on power relationships for service providers working with black and Asian communities, are explored through the findings of a 20-month project carried out between 2000 and 2001 with 19 Pakistani and Bangladeshi families who have children with severe disabilities in Birmingham. This action research project evaluated an advocacy project designed to improve the quality of life for Pakist…
Sikhism's Emancipatory Discourses
Against the backdrop of globalisation, and the attendant instability in the global economic order, coupled with an apparent upsurge in local, regional and international conflicts based on various kinds of group identification (race, ethnicity, religion etc), the promises of western progress, of modernity and civilisation are becoming increasing incredulous. The temporal and spatial distortions caused by globalisation, underpinned by economic, cul…
The ‘User’
‘User Involvement’ has become the new mantra in Public Services with professionals constantly being reminded that ‘user knows best’. The pur pose of this paper is to ask where the preoccupation with ‘the User’ comes from and to pose some questions about what ‘User Involvement’ actually means. Within our paper we see three issues as central within this. The first is a consideration of the historical antecedents of the discourse of ‘User Involvemen…
The social worker as intellectual
This paper examines the state of intellectual activity within social work under the conditions of neo-liberalism. It is motivated by concern with the demise of what previously was termed ‘bottom-up’ social work and a growing sense of despair amongst front line social workers regarding their capacity to engage with users, citizens and communities in ways other than those determined by managerial and regulatory mechanisms. This leads us into a disc…
Multiculturalism’s new fault lines
This paper seeks to critically examine the emergence of contemporary religious fundamentalisms and how they have been able to acquire influence in a way that has opened new ‘fault lines’ within multiculturalist public policy discourse. Specifically, the paper is interested in understanding the curiously paradoxical place of religion and faith based groupings in the contemporary multicultural polity, and the confusion, and in some instances confli…
Nehruvian Vision of Global Order and its Relevance in the Twenty-first Century
Rejecting the various ‘World Order Models’ being projected as a panacea for a lasting peace, Nehru visualised ‘World Union’ based on democratic principles to create an egalitarian social and economic order across the globe and to eliminate the recurring phenomena of conflict and tension which produce wars at regular intervals. The perceived ‘World Government’ could provide a platform to manage and eliminate the modern forms of warfare: ethnic con…
Part two Response to Tariq Modood – Accommodating religions
A key intention of our original paper was to open up a discussion about the increasing influence that religious groups are having on social policy in the UK. In this regard, we very much welcome Professor Tariq Modood’s response and contribution to the debate on ‘multiculturalism’s new fault lines’. The concern we expressed in our original argument focused on the increasing accommodation of religion within state multiculturalism in both general t…
The intensification of neoliberalism and the commodification of human need – a social work perspective
Marx and Engels (1848) in the Manifesto of the Communist Party explained how the drive towards the commodification of human society could be seen essentially as a manifestation of the territorial expansion of capitalist relations. While this expansion continues apace, this article argues that the contemporary period, often referred to as neoliberalism, can be characterised in terms of the intensification of those very same capitalist social relat…
Post-racial pedagogy – challenges and possibilities
Against the backdrop of ongoing discussions about how best to conceptualise, confront and ultimately eradicate racism, this paper seeks to critically examine the relevance of ‘post-racial’ thinking, both in a general sense, but also in relation to education. The argument is framed around a concern that multi-cultural, and to a lesser extent, anti-racist approaches have become hostage to the very same essentialising practices around ‘race’ thinkin…
Community cohesion, communitarianism and neoliberalism
Policy discourse around ‘community cohesion’ has displaced liberal multiculturalist and anti-racist approaches with a much narrower focus on the promotion of ‘British values’ and, for minority communities, through a ‘faith’ agenda. We argue that these developments derive from the predominance of the doctrine of communitarianism within the contemporary policy terrain, influencing both New Labour and the Conservatives. The convergence of this with …
Introduction to the special issue
Social work with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people
This article addresses the complex dynamics surrounding unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the UK. While states are legally bound to provide refuge under such treaties as the 1951 Refugee Convention, political considerations often lead to the implementation of social control mechanisms that may compromise the rights and dignity of displaced individuals. The most recent restrictive immigration legislation, which raises concerns about potenti…
Political science (16 works) · Sociology (16 works) · Law (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Politics (9 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · Gender Studies (5 works) · Context (archaeology (4 works) · Economics (4 works) · Ethnic group (4 works)