The Racialised Somatic Norm and the Senior Civil Service

Puwar, Nirmal

doi:10.1017/s0038038501000335

Cited by 30 publications

(47 citation statements)

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“…Some Catholics seem to have been experiencing features similar to what Puwar (2001) described, in an analysis of the experiences of Black senior civil servants, as a ‘somatic norm’. In analysing the experiences of Black people who have achieved high status jobs, Puwar, in interviews about their experiences, identified six features of this incursion into a white landscape: dissonance, disorientation, ‘infantalisation’ (Fanon 1986), the burden of invisibility, hyper‐surveillance and assimilative pressure to conform to the legitimate language.…”

Section: Interactional and Promotional Problems: A ‘Somatic Norm’?mentioning

confidence: 66%

“…Mason (1982) and Williams (1985) respectively found wanting in theories of institutional racism, ‘an account which effectively links the structural characteristics of a society to the actions through which people produce and reproduce their social worlds’ (Mason 1982: 44), and an analysis of how institutional racism operates which does not conflate, but rather shows how ideology is linked to practice (Williams 1985). Progress towards these requirements has, however, recently been made by Puwar's (2001) illustration of the theory (and practice) of the ‘somatic norm’, which sketches the role played in higher civil service positions of a somatic and attitudinal image which fits the post.…”

Section: The Possibility Of Institutionally Sectarian Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Accounting for Irish Catholic ill health in Scotland: a qualitative exploration of some links between ‘religion’, class and health

Walls

Williams

2004

Sociology Health & Illness

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This paper considers the ways in which accounts from GlasgowCatholics diverge from those of Protestants and explores the reasons why people leave jobs, including health grounds. Accounts reveal experiences distinctive to Catholics, of health-threatening stress, obstacles to career progression within (mainly) private-sector organisations, and interactional difficulties which create particular problems for (mainly) middle class men. This narrows the employment options for upwardly mobile Catholics, who may then resort to self-employment or other similarly stressful options. The paper considers whether the competence of Catholics or Catholic cultural factors are implicated in thwarting social mobility among Catholics or, alternatively, whether institutional sectarianism is involved. We conclude that, of these options, theories of institutional sectarianism provide the hypothesis which currently best fits these data. In Glasgow, people of indigenous Irish descent are recognisable from their names and Catholic background and are identified as Catholic by others. Overt historical exclusion of Catholics from middle class employment options now seems to take unrecognised forms in routine assumptions and practices which restrict Catholic employment opportunities. It is argued that younger Catholics use education to overcome the obstacles to mobility faced by older people and circumvent exclusions by recourse to middle class public-sector employment. This paper aims to link historical, structural and sectarian patterns of employment experience to accounts of health and work, and in so doing to contribute to an explanation for the relatively poor health of Catholic Glaswegians with Irish roots.

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Section: Interactional and Promotional Problems: A ‘Somatic Norm’?mentioning

confidence: 66%

Section: The Possibility Of Institutionally Sectarian Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accounting for Irish Catholic ill health in Scotland: a qualitative exploration of some links between ‘religion’, class and health

Walls

Williams

2004

Sociology Health & Illness

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“…We thus first employ a complimentary approach that explores how minority actors -in terms of gender, ethnicity and class-originexperience the imposition of a particular 'type' in their professional lives, and then we explore the particular ways in which resources flowing from class origin affects the ability of such actors to respond or resist to their type. To theorise typecasting in this way, we draw heavily on the work of Puwar (2001;2004) and particularly her concept of the 'somatic norm'.…”

Section: Typecasting Inequality and The Somatic Normmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resistance and Resignation: Responses to Typecasting in British Acting

Friedman

O’Brien

2017

Cultural Sociology

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This article draws on 38 in-depth interviews with British actors to explore the operation of typecasting. First, we argue that typecasting acts as the key mechanism through which the 'somatic norm' is established in British acting. It delivers an oversupply of leading roles for white, male, middle-class actors while ensuring that those who deviate somatically are restricted to largely socially caricatured roles. Second, we focus on the career trajectories of 'othered' actors. While they frequently experience acting roles as offensive and discriminatory, we demonstrate how most nonetheless reluctantly accept the terms of their 'type' in order to survive and succeed. Third, we focus on the minority who have attempted to challenge their type. Here we find that successful resistance is accomplished by carefully choosing work that subverts the somatic norm. However, the ability to exercise such choice is highly contingent on resources associated with an actor's class origin.

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“…For example, Puwar (2004) found that BME academics who enter and progress in traditionally White 'space' have been described as 'space invaders' and 'out of place'. According to Puwar (2001), the presence of BME staff in high level positions can lead to a disorientation of Whiteness, resulting in a 'double-take' ' occurring 'because authority is sedimented and naturalised in white bodies' (p.659). Accordingly, Puwar postulates, 'While they (BME staff) now exist on the inside, they still do not have an undisputed right to occupy the space' (Puwar, 2004, p.1).…”

Section: Social Identity Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

‘White sanction’, institutional, group and individual interaction in the promotion and progression of black and minority ethnic academics and teachers in England

Miller

2016

Power and Education

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The promotion and progression of black and minority ethnic academics and teachers in England has been the subject of much debate. Although several theories have been put forward, racial equality has stood out as a major contributing factor. The experiences of black and minority ethnic academics and teachers in England are similar in terms of aspirations, and their experience of organisations also points to similar patterns of exclusions. This integrated study provides thick data from qualitative interviews with academics and teachers, theorised through the lens of whiteness theory and social identity theory, of their experience of promotion and progression, how they feel organisations respond to them and how they, in turn, are responding to promotion and progression challenges. There was a shared view amongst the participants that, for black and minority ethnic academics and teachers to progress in England, they need 'white sanction'-a form of endorsement from white colleagues that in itself has an enabling power.

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The Racialised Somatic Norm and the Senior Civil Service

Cited by 30 publications

References 0 publications

Accounting for Irish Catholic ill health in Scotland: a qualitative exploration of some links between ‘religion’, class and health

Accounting for Irish Catholic ill health in Scotland: a qualitative exploration of some links between ‘religion’, class and health

Resistance and Resignation: Responses to Typecasting in British Acting

‘White sanction’, institutional, group and individual interaction in the promotion and progression of black and minority ethnic academics and teachers in England

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