Refugees, Capitalism and the British State : Implications for Social Workers, Volunteers and Activists

Today, In A Period Of Economic Crisis, Public Sector Cuts And Escalating Class Struggle, Marxism Offers Important Tools For Social Workers And Service Users To Understand The Structures Of Oppression They Face And Devise Effective Means Of Resistance. This Book Uses Marxism's Lost Insights And Reinterprets Them In The Current Context By Focussing On One Particular Section Of The International Working Class - Refugees And Asylum Seekers In Britain. Vickers' Analysis Demonstrates The General Utility Of A Marxist Approach, Enabling An Exploration Of The Interplay Between State Policies, How These Are Experienced By Their Subjects, And How Conflicts Are Mediated. The Substantive Focus Of The Book Is Twofold: To Analyse The Material Basis Of The Oppression Of Refugees In Britain By The British State; And To Examine The Means By Which The British State Has 'managed' This Oppression Through The Cultivation Of A 'refugee Relations Industry', Within A Broader Narrative Of 'social Capital Building'. These Questions Demand Answers If Social Workers And Other Practitioners Are To Successfully Work With Refugees And Asylum Seekers, And This Book Provides These Through A Detailed Marxist Analysis. Cover 1 Contents 6 List of Tables 8 Acknowledgements 10 1 Introduction 12 The Combination of Empirical Qualitative Data with a Marxist Analysis 13 The Wider Relevance of this Book 14 Forced Migration in Context: ‘Capitalism is Crisis’ 15 British Capitalism and the International Reserve Army of Labour 23 Gender and Migration 35 Conclusions and Outline of the Book 37 2 Racism and the Political Economy of Refugee Reception 40 Introduction 40 The Position of Black People in Britain Today 41 Imperialism, Nationalism, Racism and Gender 47 Refugees in Britain and the Management of Migration 54 Labour’s Policies for Disciplining Refugees 57 The Long-term Impact of Asylum Policies on Refugees with Status 69 Conclusions 72 3 Refugees and the British State 74 Introduction 74 The Class Basis of the Imperialist State: A Particular Kind of Capitalist State 75 Repressive Aspects of the British State and Refugees 85 Racism and Politics in British State Welfare 91 Disempowerment and Discrimination in Refugees’ Experiences of Welfare 95 The British State in a Period of Bank Bail-Outs and Public Sector Cuts: Implications for Refugees 104 Conclusions 105 4 Introducing the Refugee Relations Industry 108 Introduction 108 The Historical Role of Britain’s Race Relations Industry 109 Race Relations Today 121 The Role of Organisations Managing Refugees’ Relationship to the State 126 Mediating the Contradictions in the ‘Big Society’ 138 Conclusions 139 5 Social Capital and the Management of Refugees’ Oppression 142 Introduction 142 Labour’s Turn Towards Social Capital as Theory and Practice 144 Refugees’ Incentives to Build New Networks and Relationships 148 The Influence of Previous Forms of Engagement 157 Outcomes of Social Capital Building with the State 161 Contradictions between Subjective Motivations and Objective Outcomes 167 The Presence of Labour’s Social Capital Building in the Coalition’s Big Society 173 Conclusions 174 6 Conclusion 176 Implications for Practice and Policy 178 Future Directions: The Role of Refugees, Social Workers and Volunteers in the ‘Big Society’ 180 Appendix: Methodology and Research Background to the Book 182 A Qualitative Marxist Methodology 182 The Newcastle Research 185 References 190 Author Index 212 Subject Index 218 Intends to analyse the material basis of the oppression of refugees in Britain by the British state. This title also examines the means by which the British state has 'managed' this oppression through the cultivation of a 'refugee relations industry', within a broader narrative of 'social capital building'. This text uses Marxism's lost insights and reinterprets them in the current context by focusing on one particular section of the international working class - refugees and asylum seekers in Britain