John Lever

Urban Regeneration Partnerships: A Figurational Critique of Governmentality Theory

This article provides a critique of governmentally inspired accounts of urban regeneration and partnership working. Drawing on the work of Norbert Elias and prominent figurational sociologists, it discusses the changes taking place within and through the many partnerships set up by New Labour around the notion of ‘community safety’. Although recognizing the important insights provided by accounts of urban regeneration emerging through studies of governmentality, the article argues that such accounts fail to adequately consider the impact of partnership working on the individuals, communities and organizations involved. While urban regeneration partnerships have the potential to be the motor of the civilizing process in the manner identified by figurational sociologists, the article concludes that they are not currently living up to this civilizing potential.

Migrant workers and migrant entrepreneurs: changing established/outsider relations across society and space?

Drawing on Elias and Scotsons theory of established/outsider relations, in this paper we argue that migrants can be outsiders in one spatial context and established in another simultaneously. Our empirical focus is the situations and experiences of migrant workers from Central and Eastern Europe in four towns across Wales. While their position as outsiders is reinforced in the occupational spaces of meat-processing factories, outside the workplace a small but growing number of migrants are engaging in entrepreneurial activities that create new spaces of cultural diversity. We argue that this is having a wider affective impact on established/outsider relations.

Governmentalisation and local strategic partnerships: Whose priorities?

The author explores the application of figurational sociology to developments in governance under New Labour. Expanding insights from the governmentality literature, he illustrates how individuals and communities are increasingly required to behave in ever more autonomous, self-realising, and self-managing ways—and how the expansion of partnership working as a way of disciplining communities around particular themes and issues is part of an ongoing process of governmentalisation exerting its influence on everyday life. Highlighting the wider figurational contingencies that hinder community attempts to attract mainstream resources through Local Strategic Partnerships, the author concludes by stressing the continued importance of developing inclusive governance structures.

Europe’s perennial "outsiders": a processual approach to Roma stigmatization and ghettoization

This article draws on the theoretical work of Norbert Elias and Loïc Wacquant in seeking to understand the stigmatized and marginalized position of the Roma population within Europe. The article argues that the persistent persecution of Roma, reflected in social policy, cannot be understood without reference to long-term social processes which shape the nature of the asymmetric power relations between Roma and non-Roma. Elias’s theory of established–outsider relations is applied at the intra-state European level in arguing that Roma constitute a cross-border ‘outsider’ group; with their intense stigmatization explained and perpetuated by a common set of collective fantasies which are maintained through complex group processes of disidentification, and which result in Roma being seen as of lesser human worth. Wacquant’s theoretical concept of the ‘ghetto’ is then drawn upon to show how the manifestations of stigmatization for the stigmatized are at once psychological, social and spatial. The article suggests that the synthesis of the two theorists’ concepts allows for an approach that can expose the way in which power is exercised within and through group relations. Such an approach emphasizes the centrality of the interdependence between Roma and non-Roma, and the fluctuating power balance that characterizes that relationship across time and space. The article concludes that, while existing research focused on policy and outcomes is useful in understanding the negative contemporary experiences of Roma populations, they need to be understood in the context of wider social processes and historical continuities in seeking to elucidate how these processes shape policies and contribute to social and spatial marginalization.

Citizen Participation and Civic Activism in Comparative Perspective

Global interest in community and civic participation has been well documented. In particular, it has led to the creation of new governance spaces in which civil society actors have been invited to participate. This article draws on Crossleys concept of ‘radical habitus’ to explore the challenges that new opportunities pose to civic activism, and the ways in which different cultural and political environments enable or constrain the capacity of civic activists for autonomy and critical agency.

The structural invisibility of outsiders: the role of migrant labour in the meat-processing industry

This article examines the role of migrant workers in meat-processing factories in the UK. Drawing on materials from mixed methods research in a number of case study towns across Wales, we explore the structural and spatial processes that position migrant workers as outsiders. While state policy and immigration controls are often presented as a way of protecting migrant workers from work-based exploitation and ensuring jobs for British workers, our research highlights that the situation ‘on the ground’ is more complex. We argue that ‘self-exploitation’ among the migrant workforce is linked to the strategies of employers and the organisation of work, and that hyper-flexible work patterns have reinforced the spatial and social invisibilities of migrant workers in this sector. While this creates problems for migrant workers, we conclude that it is beneficial to supermarkets looking to supply consumers with the regular supply of cheap food to which they have become accustomed.

New governance spaces: what generates a participatory disposition in different contexts?

This paper examines developments in governance and non- governmental public action in three diverse contexts. It is based on comparative international research that examined the role of non-governmental actors involved in partnership working with state actors in the UK, Bulgaria and Nicaragua. The paper draws on Crossley’s (2003) development of Bourdieu’s (1977) ‘theory of practice’ to examine the contextual factors that influence the participation of non-governmental actors in ‘new governance spaces’. It highlights three very different responses to the ‘opportunities’ governance offers, which illustrate how historical processes mould civil society relation’s vis-a-vis the state in highly significant ways. Although governance presents many obstacles to change, the paper concludes that the new forms of participation that are appearing in these spaces may be the foundations from which more significant change emerges.

Contextualizing entrepreneurial identity among Syrian refugees in Jordan: The emergence of a destabilized habitus?

This article aims to contextualize the entrepreneurial identity (EI) of Syrian refugees living outside refugee camps in Jordan. The research adopts a social lens to consider the situation Syrians find themselves in by drawing on the work of Bourdieu. A qualitative design is applied to explore the different experiences and perceptions that pervade refugee stories and the work of refugee aid agencies. By contextualizing EI in the Jordanian context, the article reveals how a destabilized refugee habitus based on an embodied disposition of survivability is emerging. The article makes an empirical and conceptual contribution by highlighting how the entrepreneurial activities of Syrian refugees are driven by their experiences of the harsh social conditions they find themselves in.

Social network evolution during long-term migration: a comparison of three case studies in the South Wales region

ABSTRACT Ten years after Poland joined the European Union (EU), a sizable number of the once considered short-term migrants that entered the United Kingdom (UK) post-2004 have remained. From the literature, it is known that, when initially migrating, social networks composed of family and friends are used to facilitate migration. Later, migrants’ social networks may evolve to include local, non-ethnic members of the community. Through these networks, migrants may access new opportunities within the local economy. They also serve to socialise newcomers in the cultural modalities of life in the destination country. However, what if migrants’ social networks do not evolve or evolve in a limited manner? Is cultural integration still possible under these conditions? Using data collected from three case studies in the South Wales region – Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil and Llanelli – from 2008–2012, the aim of this article is to compare Polish migrants’ social network usage, or lack thereof, over time. This comparison will be used to understand how these social networks can be catalysts and barriers for cultural integration. The findings point to the migrants’ varied use of their local social networks, which is dependent upon their language skill acquisition and their labour market mobility in the destination country.

Ballet for the Sun King: power, talent and organisation

Notions of “talent” and “celebrity” dominate popular culture. Whether on TV shows, in popular media or in the workplace, people talk about “talent” as something that generates or leads to prosperity and success. In this chapter we argue that the “elitist” and “subjective” forms of talent management evident in contemporary business organisations can be traced back to Louis XIVs management of the French Court in the seventeenth century. Building on Elias’s dance metaphor, we argue that talent management is structured by a plethora of management technologies and performance measures that allow senior management to maintain the boundaries of the permissible and ward off dissent before it threatens the established order.