Turning the Analytic Gaze on "Us" The Role of Authorities in the Alienation of Minorities

• Published in: European psychologist Vol. 18; no. 4; pp. 245 - 252
• Main Authors: Blackwood, Leda, Hopkins, Nick, Reicher, Steve
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hogrefe Publishing 2013
• Subjects: Alienation; Attitudes; Authority; Female; Human; Humiliation; Intervention; Majority Groups; Male; Minority Groups; Muslims; Politics; Psychologists; Respect; Surveillance; Muslims; political engagement; alienation; minority groups; political disengagement
• ISSN: 1016-9040; 1878-531X
• DOI: 10.1027/1016-9040/a000151

What leads to the alienation and political (dis)engagement of minority groups is a critical question for
political psychologists. Recently, research has focused attention on one particular minority group -
Muslims in the West - and on what promotes "anti-Western" attitudes and behavior.
Typically, the research focus is on factors internal to the individuals or the minority communities concerned.
However, we argue this overlooks the ways in which the perspective and practices of the majority group affect
minority group members' understandings of who they are and how they stand in relation to the majority.
In this paper we examine the social-psychological processes through which authorities' surveillance and
intervention affects minority group members' sense of themselves, their relationship to authorities and
the wider community. In doing so, we discuss a number of hitherto neglected psychological processes that may
contribute to alienation-namely, processes of misrecognition, disrespect, and humiliation. We draw on research
conducted with British Muslims to illustrate our argument for widening our analytic focus to give a more
dynamic account of alienation and (dis)engagement.