The White Working Class as ‘Flawed Consumers’: Representations and Policy Responses.

At Home in Europe Project

The White Working Class as ‘Flawed

Consumers’: Representations and

Policy Responses

The Open Society Foundations

The Open Society Foundations are a family of more than 30 foundations

active in more than 70 countries around the world. The Open Society Foundations

support justice and human rights, freedom of expression, and access to

public health and education. The Foundations work to build vibrant and

tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens.

At Home in Europe Project

Research and Advocacy Mitigation of anti-minority and anti-

immigrant sentiment Equality and social cohesion in

Western Europe Local and national government

engagement and EU where necessary

Aims

Undertake research and advocacy on issues which undermine open societies

Offer evidence based comparative research and contribute to better informed policies and debate on diversity and equality in Europe

Engage local governments to improve political will and leadership in countering intolerance

Support the critical engagement of grassroots organisations at city and national level

Strengthen or support the creation of a shared sense of interest between communities

Scope of the studies

MEDIA

EDUCATION

COHESION EMPLOYMENT

HOUSING

POLICING

POLITICAL PARTICIPATIO

N

Research

Premised on policy knowledge gaps Evidence based comparative

research Qualitative methodology City level Muslims in EU Cities Somalis in European Cities Engaging Marginalised Majority

Populations and Communities

Advocacy

Advocacy is an organised attempt to change policy, practice and/or attitudes and behaviour by presenting evidence and arguments for how and why change can happen

Advocacy: Strategic approach and tools

Research-driven

Sustainable change at the local level

Local ownership

Briefings, partnerships, facilitation, networks, capacity building, grant giving, media, visual representation, promoting good practices

Who do we want to influence?

Local, national and European levels

City administrations

Civil Society Actors

European networks

And what about the other players?

www.opensocietyfoundations.org/programs/home @HomeInEurope

• Aarhus, Denmark

• Amsterdam, The Netherlands

• Berlin, Germany

• Lyon, France

• Manchester, United Kingdom

• Stockholm, Sweden

Six cities

Methodology

‘White working class’ or ‘marginalised majority population’?

“individuals who are citizens of the country where the research was taking

place and born in that country and whose parents were also citizens of

the country and born in that country”

Methodology

Qualitative research 12 focus groups in each city Semi-structured interviews with key

stakeholders (policy makers, practitioners, civil society activists)

BerlinLyon Amsterdam

Manchester

Stockholm

Aarhus

Background and context

Areas of majority ‘white working class’ population

Traditional centre left municipalities

Not the ‘most deprived areas’ in the city

Significant support for far right parties

Identity and Belonging

Economic insecurity, networks of support and identity

Failure to involve white working class communities in integration policies

Stigmatized local identites

Education

Relative lack of attention on under-achievement of white working class children

Reforms in education have encouraged segregation on the grounds of both class and ethnicity

Degrading of vocational education

Media

Rise of negative media stereotypes Chavs (UK), Hartz IV television (Germany), “aso-TV” Netherlands

Structure of media industry/professionals and decline of traditional local media

Symbolic neighbourhoods: Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Tuindorp, Triegeparken,

Community based social media challenging representations of local areas

At Home in Europe Team

Director: nazia.hussain@opensocietyfoundations.org

Advocacy Officer: klaus.nielsen@opensocietyfoundations.org

Prog. Assistant: csilla.toth@opensocietyfoundations.org

Senior Policy Adv.: tufyalc@yahoo.co.uk