Book review: Bridget Anderson, Us & Them? The Dangerous Politics of Immigration Control
| Author | Ana Aliverti |
| DOI | 10.1177/1362480613494287 |
| Published date | 01 August 2013 |
| Date | 01 August 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Theoretical Criminology 17(3)
This book is a significant achievement. It is a worthy addition to the growing body of
prison ethnography in England & Wales, as it draws out the ways in which daily experi-
ences shape and are shaped by wider social forces. Issues of race and ethnicity have been
given significant academic and professional attention over the last 15 years in particular,
but in my view no previous prison study has provided such a rich exploration of the
everyday social dynamics of the multicultural prison. As this book so vividly illustrates,
the experience of contemporary life, including prison life, cannot be fully understood
without taking account of multiculturalism. On both a theoretical and an emotional level,
this work is a poignant reminder that racial power, social marginalization and masculin-
ity are not objectified structural constructs, but are lived experiences that exist in the
lives of real people, including those in prison.
References
Berman G (2012) Prison Population Statistics. London: House of Commons Library. Available at:
http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN04334 (accessed 27 February 2013).
Bosworth M and Bhui H (2013) Editorial comment. Prison Service Journal 205: 2–3.
Cavadino M and Dignan J (2007) The Penal System: An Introduction. London: SAGE.
Gilroy P (2006) Multiculture in times of war: An inaugural lecture given at the London School of
Economics. Critical Quarterly 48(4): 27–45.
HM Inspectorate of Prisons (2005) Parallel Worlds: A Thematic Review of Race Relations in
Prisons. London: HMIP.
Keith B (2006) Report of the Zahid Mubarek Inquiry. London: HMSO.
Liebling A, Arnold H and Straub C (2012) An Exploration of Staff–Prisoner Relationships at HMP
Whitemoor: Twelve Years On. London: Ministry of Justice.
MacPherson W (1999) The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry: Report of an Inquiry by Sir William
MacPherson of Cluny. London: Home Office.
National Offender Management Service (2008) Race Review 2008: Implementing Race Equality in
Prisons: Five Years On. London: NOMS.
Bridget Anderson, Us & Them? The Dangerous Politics of Immigration Control, Oxford
University Press: Oxford, 2013; 224 pp.: 9780199691593, £55 (hbk)
Reviewed by: Ana Aliverti, Warwick University Law School, UK
In Britain, as elsewhere in the rich West, the ‘problem’ of immigration is one of the few
issues where mainstream parties are converging: the numbers of immigrants should go
down, low skilled migration should be stopped and only the ‘best and brightest’ should
be admitted in to the country, while allowing subsidiary protection of those in genuine
need. In post-war Britain, immigration politics is framed very much in terms of binaries,
immigration politics is framed very much in terms of binaries—most precisely, the
deserving and the undeserving migrant. In dealing with this...
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