Full list of publications (e-mail for requests) by Sam Bennett
Papers by Sam Bennett
As David Cohen (1985) has argued, communities are symbolic constructions that serve to give a sen... more As David Cohen (1985) has argued, communities are symbolic constructions that serve to give a sense of belonging and identity to its members. These communities are, due to their size, often largely imagined communities (Anderson, 1983) in the sense that most of their members never meet more than a few hundred co-members and yet there remains a strong sense of communal belonging. However the post-modern condition has wrought changes that have challenged traditional conceptions of community in many ways, two of which are salient for this paper.
Books by Sam Bennett
This is a study into how the public discourse on migrant integration in the UK changed from 2000-... more This is a study into how the public discourse on migrant integration in the UK changed from 2000-2010. The book shows that the discursive construction of integration in the British public sphere shifted from one of cultural pluralism to one of neo-assimilation, informed by a wider spread of neo-liberalism that necessitates self-sufficiency and discourages state assistance. Situated within the Critical Discourse Studies tradition, the book employs a Discourse Historical approach to the data and includes innovative analysis combining 'top-down' (policy documents and media texts) and 'bottom-up' (focus groups with migrants and new citizens) sites of discourse production. In doing so, it provides a broad and detailed perspective of public discourse on integration in the UK. The book shows that understandings of 'integration' are diachronically and synchronically fluid and as such, the term plays an important role as a 'consensus concept' that different actors can support whilst construing it in different ways. Analysis of the data further reveals that integration is interdiscursively linked to other social fields, such as the economy, terrorism and public spending. The book also argues that integration policy has become directed not just at new migrants, but also long-term British citizens and that this has the potential to have considerable impact on community cohesion.
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Full list of publications (e-mail for requests) by Sam Bennett
Papers by Sam Bennett
Books by Sam Bennett