Precarious work, protest masculinity and communal regulation: South Asian young men in Luton, UK

Linda McDowell, Esther Rootham and Abby Hardgrove
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Linda McDowell: University of Oxford, UK
Esther Rootham: National University of Singapore, Singapore
Abby Hardgrove: University of Oxford, UK

Work, Employment & Society, 2014, vol. 28, issue 6, 847-864

Abstract: This article presents an argument about the reactions of young South Asian men to their economic and social exclusion. In a labour market increasingly characterized by insecurity, where bottom end service employment often demands a feminized ‘service with a smile’ performance, young working class men from minority communities are often disadvantaged in their search for work. It has been argued that in these circumstances a version of protest masculinity and involvement in urban unrest are typical responses. This argument is explored in a racialized minority area of Luton, where right wing organizations attempt to provoke street-based reactions by young men. Instead, ‘radical privatism’, constructed through communal regulation, is a reaction to exceptional provocation, although young men’s involvement in low level street unrest is also common in more ‘normal’ times.

Keywords: communal regulation; Luton; precarious employment; protest masculinity; radical privatism; South Asian youth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:28:y:2014:i:6:p:847-864

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