(Un)making the established-outsiders figuration in anti-racist and migrant rights activism

Abstract

The article discusses recent anti-racist and migrant rights activism in Finland with the help of Norbert Elias’ figurational sociology and the concept of the established-outsiders figuration. The mobilisation of ‘outsiders’ (racialised minorities and migrants) has reordered the contemporary field and challenged the ‘established’ majority activists to reflect on their own practices. Through combining figurational and cultural perspectives, I compare the extent to which established liberal and left-libertarian activists, with their distinct ideological positions, have succeeded in transforming the power ratio between themselves and the outsiders. This article advances the use of the established-outsiders conceptualisation in cases where the established support, in principle, the outsiders’ inclusion. This helps to shed light on both the more covert and subtle ways through which the established reproduce their power as well as their agency in dismantling the power disparity.

Robert Park and Norbert Elias's contributions to ethnic and racial studies: A relational approach

“…In doing so, I am not suggesting that either theorists' work has been entirely lost to obscurity in relation to ethnicity or migration. For example, Elias's work on established‐outsider figurations (Kuukkanen, 2022; Pratsinikis, 2018) and Park's concept of the Marginal Man (Lal, 2018) have recently been revisited. A study by Fuhse (2012) discusses both authors' work (as well as those of Schutz and Simmel) on the segregation of ethnic minorities.…”