Political Languages of Race and the Politics of Exclusion

<p>First published in 1999 <i>Political Languages of Race and the Politics of Exclusion</i> examines the post-race signification logic of languages used to promote and achieve the exclusion and stigmatisation of migrant groups within post-war Britain. Re-examining the time of Smethwick and Powellism as well as extensive Parliamentary debates this book develops an original thesis to show how Backbench racism became legitimated as Frontbench <i>commons’ </i>sense. The book argues that the achievement of the success of post-war Parliamentary racism has been made possible by the development of a ubiquitously anecdotal narrative of the travails of the ‘Forgotten Englishman’ awoken to a multi-cultural nightmare in Britain’s decaying inner cities. While the concept of ‘race’ has remained under erasure the logic of post-race signification discourse has allowed the re-making of racism in public Britain.</p>