New Racism: Revisiting Researcher Accountabilities - Hardcover

Romm, Norma

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9048187273 ISBN 13: 9789048187270

Publisher: Springer, 2010

Synopsis

This book develops a debate around responsible social inquiry into new racism. A variety of ways of researching new forms of racism (for example, aversive, modern, cultural, purportedly color-blind, and new racism) are addressed. Experiments that have been undertaken to inquire into group identity and people’s implicit bias in relation to those perceived as "other" are critically explored and their potential consequences reconsidered. The book also critically explores survey research, which, it is argued, can serve to reinforce the notion of the existence of ethnoracial groups with defined boundaries that inhere in social life. The book considers interviewing (including focus group interviewing) and case study research (including participant observation/ethnography) in terms of possibilities for moving beyond new forms of racism. Action research (defined by the understanding of an inextricable link between knowing and acting) is examined in-depth in terms of the hopes to "make a difference" at the moment of inquiry. Types of retroductive logic that are used to examine underlying structures that arguably unduly constrain people’s life chances and render human relationships inhumane are also explored. The book draws together the different arguments; and it proposes ways in which the design of research into new racism can better approached as well as ways in which dialogue around processes of inquiry and the products thereof can be better fostered. Suggestions for nurturing humane social relationships that provide for transcultural meaning-making are threaded through the text.

About this title

About the Author

Norma R.A. Romm is affiliated as Research Professor to the University of South Africa (College of Human Sciences). She has worked for universities in South Africa, Swaziland, the United Kingdom, and Cyprus - holding the position of Dean in social science and humanity faculties in Swaziland and in Cyprus. She is the author of the following books: The Methodologies of Positivism and Marxism (1991); Accountability in Social Research (2001); People's Education in Theoretical Perspective (with Veronica McKay, 1992); Diversity Management (with Robert Flood, 1996); and Assessment of the Impact of HIV and AIDS in the Informal Economy in Zambia (with Veronica McKay, 2006). She has also co-edited Social Theory (with Michael Sarakinsky, 1994) and Critical Systems Thinking (with Robert Flood, 1996). She has written over 85 articles/chapters in edited books on issues such as education (including adult education), social development, social theorizing in relation to development, the facilitation of co-learning in group processes, discursive accountability, systemic inquiry, and considerations of racism as a world problem.

From the Back Cover

This book combines the sociological exploration of human being in society with an examination of human knowing processes and their justification in the social fabric. It connects this to discussions around race/ethnicity, gender, and class issues. The book brings together these areas of inquiry and explores options for enhancing social research on new racism. Besides offering an in-depth comparison of different definitions of new racism, the book examines a range of research styles that have been used to approach the field, and offers suggestions as to how these can be extended. With careful reference to examples, the book spells out how researchers can take into consideration the potential social impacts of their inquiry approaches.

This book provides readers with an overview of debates on new racism, and helps them reconsider methodological and epistemological debates in the social sciences and their implications for social and political practice. 

From the Inside Flap

In a deteriorating environment globally, how do we redefine our human, physical and social structures to create a more economical, political and social balance that diminishes the influence and power of "Silo'ed thinking" that leads to our making decisions that undermine an ethic of care? The book is timely because it addresses the manner in which people become categorized as "us and them" in terms of binary oppositions and attendant competition for resources and cost saving. This in turn leads to the erosion of social justice and ethical standards. Romm offers a way of exploring how new racism is linked to learned behavioral consciousness where "Difference" closely aligns itself with individuality and identity - to the detriment of possibilities for thinking and acting more holistically.

Bevin Wilson , Yunggorendi, Flinders University , & Associate Prof Janet McIntyre-Mills (International Studies and Politics, Flinders University).

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9048187273
• ISBN 13: 9789048187270
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 513