The far right, banal nationalism and the reproduction of Islamophobia through the consumer activist campaign of Boycott Halal

Bibliographic Data

ID3357665
AuthorsAliakbar Jafari (0000-0003-4321-2911, Department of Marketing, University of Strathclyde Business School, UK, corresponding author), Alam Saleh (0000-0001-5866-3921, Australian National University)
Year2024
Volume73
Issue6
Pages1263-1283
Publication date2024-11-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00380261241291676
OpenAlexW4404160558
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited61

In this case study, we examine a UK-based anti-halal consumer activist campaign called the Boycott Halal Campaign (BHC). Using critical discourse analysis applied to online data, we show how, by framing halal-certified products as an existential threat to the UK, BHC drew from and contributed to the institutionalized ideology of Islamophobia. Given the potential of markets and consumptionscapes in increasing the visibility of ethnoreligious markers, we show how the far right has used these mundane arenas as fertile grounds on which to reproduce its discourse through banal nationalism and exclusionary civilizationism. We argue that beyond public protests, the far right has used consumer activism as a powerful tool for recruiting members and mobilizing different groups against Islam and Muslims. We contribute to the sociological accounts of inter-group identity dynamics by showing how activists can leverage the securitization discourse to mobilize different groups for their political ends. We argue that such mobilization (aimed at reproducing a collective identity) becomes possible when a social group perceives its collective identity to be under threat by another social group. The study calls for more research on how and why different forms of exclusionary ideologies can arise and evolve over time and what tools and mechanisms they can use to transmit their agendas and recruit members

Boycott · Islamophobia · Media studies · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Reproduction · Sociology · Asian Studies and History · Islamic Studies and Radicalism · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access