Respectability and boundary making on a superdiverse housing estate

The cross-racial deployment of intra-ethnic stereotypes

Bibliographic Data

ID5609871
AuthorsJames Rosbrook‐thompson (0000-0002-3237-3368, Department of Sociology City, University of London London UK, corresponding author), G Armstrong (0000-0002-4155-0813, City, University of London)
Year2022
Volume73
Issue2
Pages259-272
Publication date2022-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-4446.12922
PMID35049042
OpenAlexW4206644046
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited29

This article examines how white British residents of a superdiverse London housing estate learn about-and subsequently deploy-the intra-ethnic stereotypes used by their British Pakistani and British Bangladeshi neighbours/flatmates. Building on recent attempts to bring together conviviality and boundary making, along with insights into intra-ethnic othering, we show how, for white British residents, these stereotypes offered the chance to add detail and authenticity to judgements about the "unrespectable" behaviour of British Asian residents and/or visitors. Ultimately, however, white British residents' inappropriate and/or imprecise deployment of these stereotypes in relation to British Bangladeshis and British Pakistanis led to the misidentification of low-status people and the unfair extension of discrimination faced by low-status individuals and families. Furthermore, the combination of clumsy application and the positioning of "respectable" British Bangladeshis and British Pakistanis as purveyors of "insider knowledge" about intra-ethnic stereotypes led to the reinscribing of boundaries between racial groups. We conclude that studying the cross-racial use of intra-ethnic stereotypes allows for a subtler appreciation of the complex dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in superdiverse areas

Boundary (topology · Estate · Ethnic group · Inclusion (mineral · Insider · Political science · Prejudice (legal term · Sociology · Software deployment · White (mutation · White British · Anthropology · Engineering · Gender Studies · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

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