Citation

Rosbrook-Thompson J, Armstrong G. Br. J. Sociol. 2022; 73(2): 259-272.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, London School of Economics and Political Science, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1468-4446.12922

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article examines how white British residents of a superdiverse London housing estate learn about?and subsequently deploy?the intra-ethnic stereotypes used by their British Pakistani and British Bangladeshi neighbours/flatmates. Building on recent attempts to bring together conviviality and boundary making, along with insights into intra-ethnic othering, we show how, for white British residents, these stereotypes offered the chance to add detail and authenticity to judgements about the ?unrespectable? behaviour of British Asian residents and/or visitors. Ultimately, however, white British residents' inappropriate and/or imprecise deployment of these stereotypes in relation to British Bangladeshis and British Pakistanis led to the misidentification of low-status people and the unfair extension of discrimination faced by low-status individuals and families. Furthermore, the combination of clumsy application and the positioning of ?respectable? British Bangladeshis and British Pakistanis as purveyors of ?insider knowledge? about intra-ethnic stereotypes led to the reinscribing of boundaries between racial groups. We conclude that studying the cross-racial use of intra-ethnic stereotypes allows for a subtler appreciation of the complex dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in superdiverse areas.

Keywords

conviviality; ethnicity; race; respectability; superdiversity; symbolic boundaries