Redressing racism, communicating citizenship: state legitimation techniques in the multicultural metropolis

Abstract

Apolitical social marketing communications, however intendedly neutral, acquire political capabilities when metropolitan states in search of legitimacy use them to market multiculturalism. European metropoles are under pressure to reconcile their colonial histories with the contemporary need to engage minority ethnic citizens. Yet, in the communication of cultural belonging, antiracist state redress must also enlist the consent of majority ethnic citizens. Official antiracism defines ‘racism’ according to this dual need. Our focus is One Scotland, Many Cultures – the devolved Scottish polity's ₤1-million antiracist social marketing campaign launched in 2002 under the Blair government's UK-wide race strategy. Interviews with key actors responsible for the initial campaign, and content analysis of campaign advertisements, reveal that official antiracism attempts to engage disaffected multiethnic constituencies. The proposed political sociology of ethnicity and communication which informs this analysis alerts us to a significant and salient feature of metropolitan state legitimation – affective multiethnic governance.