Racial Harassment in Social Housing in a Multi-ethnic City The Case for Moving beyond Acting against Individual Perpetrators of Racial Harassment

• Published in: Urban studies (Edinburgh, Scotland) Vol. 50; no. 4; pp. 674 - 690
• Main Authors: Netto, Gina, Abazie, Humphrey
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England Sage Publications, Ltd 01.03.2013; SAGE Publications; Longman Group; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Affordable housing; Bgi / Prodig; Communitarianism; Communities; Community; Community involvement; Coping; Crime; Criminology; Culture; Europe; Fear; Flint; Glasgow, Scotland; Harassment; Hate crimes; Housing; Housing policy; Housing projects; Intervention; Landlords; Minorities; Minority & ethnic groups; Perception; Policy Implementation; Public housing; Qualitative analysis; Qualitative Methods; Qualitative research; Racial conflict; Racial harassment; Racism; Risk; Risk Assessment; Scotland and Scottish Islands; Sociology; The British Isles; Urban areas; Victim identification; Victimization; Violence; Violent crimes; United Kingdom; Scotland; Glasgow; Glasgow Scotland; United Kingdom > UK; British Isles, Scotland, Glasgow; Social housing; Ethnic minority; Violence; Neighbourhood; Housing; Security; Social geography; Community
• ISSN: 0042-0980; 1360-063X
• DOI: 10.1177/0042098012456246

Progress in dealing with racial harassment and violence, including among social landlords, has been limited. Situating racial harassment within the current context of hate crime, this paper synthesises insights from studies into community cohesion, the sociology of racist victimisation and criminology research, and extensive qualitative research carried out in Glasgow. Issues examined include: the relationship between fear of racial harassment and locational choices; varying perceptions of the significance of racial harassment between housing organisations and ethnic minority individuals; the role of allocation policies; risk assessment and coping strategies; and the relationship between racial harassment and a wider culture of violence. It is argued that while there is scope for more effective implementation of existing policies, the deep-seated nature of the problem demands a shift in emphasis from an events-oriented approach which targets individual perpetrators towards longer-term community-based interventions.