Established-outsider Relations Research Articles

Advancing the labour rights of migrant workers beyond Kafala: the impact of ‘established-outsider relations’ on reforming Qatar’s transnational labour management system

In the years following Qatar’s successful 2010 bid to host the FIFA World Cup 2022, there has been a significant shift in its engagement with the migrant labour rights discourse, and subsequent embarkment on significant reforms as the result of intense international scrutiny and advocacy action. The core feature of Qatar’s historically evolved transnational labour management system, Kafala, has become a key focal point of international advocacy efforts. The objective of this article is to assess the extent to which the reforms constitute a break in Qatar’s historical (that is, pre-FIFA 2022) labour management system, and thus a meaningful disruption to the social reproduction regime that allowed the Kafala system to persist. We do so by probing the institutionalisation of those reforms, with a particular focus on the agency of labour through collective worker empowerment. Drawing on interviews with key transnational actors involved in the reform process in situ, we employ the ‘established-outsider’ relations concept in our analysis of the reforms, while highlighting the remaining challenges. Our ultimate argument is that although the reforms in Qatar seek to provide more labour rights and protections, they fall short of loosening the absolute control of sponsors (kafeels) over their employees. This is due to two main reasons: the absence of strong and effective institutions to convert the legal reforms into rights in practice; and the fact that laws outside of the labour ministry, that fall under the jurisdiction of the interior ministry, are the foundation of the relationship between citizens and migrants and remain largely untouched. These double-edged limitations guarantee the social reproduction of the highly unequal labour mobility system by firmly keeping in place ‘established-outsider’ relations.

Shame in a post-socialist society: a qualitative study of healthcare seeking and utilisation in common mental disorders.

After the regime collapse, the former socialist societies in Central and Eastern Europe experienced rapid social and economic transformations. Consequently, mental health deterioration coupled with ambitions to break with the past triggered reforms of mental health systems. Yet, 30years later, mental health in the region remains poor. Stigma of mental illness may be one of the factors that delays help seeking and, therefore, maintains status quo. Thus, the aim of the article is to better understand the roots of stigma and the process of stigmatisation in one of these countries - Lithuania. Drawing on Norbert Elias's model of established-outsider relations, the article presents the analysis of 23 in-depth interviews with healthcare providers and users of services diagnosed with depression or anxiety disorders. Said analysis reveals how stigma of mental illness might result in damaged self-image and shame of feeling different. Mental illness and healthcare seeking are perceived as a threat to culturally and historically determined self-values, at the core of which seems to be intolerance of difference. The article contributes not only to research concerning mental health in a relatively understudied region of Central and Eastern Europe, but also to existing literature on stigma as embedded in a local context.

Established-Outsider Relations and 'Figurational' Analysis

In the introduction to this HSR Special Issue we provide an exposition and over- view of Elias and Scotson's Established and Outsiders, seeking to identify the empirical and conceptual significance of the relational model of inter-group tensions contained therein. Our core argument is that Elias and Scotson wrote in the historical context of a British intellectual Zeitgeist in which a preoccupa- tion with 'established' groups followed from proto-Marxist political/macro- sociological concerns with the reproduction of social elites; and an engage- ment with 'outsiders', which followed from an ascendant micro-sociological concern with sub-cultural and 'deviant' groups who defined themselves in op- position to a dominant mainstream. Elias and Scotson's contribution, viewed in this vein, was to provide a radically relational theoretical-empirical model which synthesised micro, meso and macro sociological concerns with social power dynamics into a unified synthetic scheme. We propose that while such a model is entirely consistent with the broader conceptual architecture of Elias's approach, it is important also to recognise the not insignificant influence of Scotson's empirical work in informing the specific concerns of their study. We further reflect upon the origins of the study and its implications for our more general methodological questions relating to undertaking 'figurational analysis' in the context of historical social research.

‘Who is zooming who’? A study of young PE-students in their figurations

ABSTRACTThe article presents an analysis of 93 essays written in an upper secondary school context. The essays were collected in relation to a larger research project, which went on for 5 years in a Danish upper secondary school (2010–2015). The material represents both genders and the students are 15–17 years old. We deploy a theoretical framework taken from Norbert Elias’ notion on established-outsider relations [Elias, N., & Scotson, J. L. (1994 [1965]). The established and the outsiders. London: SAGE] as well as his use of personal pronouns [Elias, N. (1978). What is sociology? London: Hutchinson, Elias, N. (2001). The society of individuals. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group] in illustrating how people negotiate, position and navigate within figurational contexts [Elias, N. (1994 [1939]). The civilizing proces. Oxford: Blackwell.]. We do this in an effort to interpret how young people negotiate ‘we-I-relations’ when it comes to their sporting identity. Elias’ processual framework provides a tool for a much needed analysis of how young people continually orientate and develop their sense of selves. The web of human interdependencies and processes of change are key words when it comes to understanding the social practices and doings of the students’ constructions of self-steering. What social scientists may see as laziness and drop-outs of sports [Seippel, Ø. (2016). Prek, vekker og kjedelig? Trening og mening blant ungdom: 1985–2013. In Ø. Seippel, M. K. Sisjord, & Å Strandbu (Eds.), Ungdom og Idrett. Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk] can in the essays of students be analysed as a struggle for group connectedness and social inclusion in the classroom. The results of our research show that identity is a multiple concept and an ongoing process of emotional work [Elias, N. (1987). On human beings and their emotions: A process-sociological essay. Theory Culture Society, 4, 339–361], but also a power balance of playing and presenting what is imagined as the right performance as not being shamed as outcasts.

Re-Marginalisierung der palästinensischen Flüchtlinge? Transformation von Wir-Bildern in der palästinensischen Gesellschaft im Westjordanland seit den 1970er Jahren

Abstract: This article explores concepts of belonging for Palestinian refugees and asks how they shape patterns of interpretation, we-images and life histories. The article discusses the results of a research project in Israel and the West Bank conducted in the period 2010 to 2015 on descendants of Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The findings display a generational divide. For members of the second generation of Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, the sense of belonging to the historical generation of the first Intifada is the main factor influencing their experiences and we-images. For the third generation of refugees, however, their refugee background tends to be increasingly important. These generational differences are intertwined with the formation of a new urban middle class in the West Bank a%er the Oslo Accords and the creation of the Palestinian Authority in the 1990s. This group formation connects to a (new) marginalisation of Palestinian refugees, especially those living in camp areas. Generational differences regarding we-images are thus connected to shfting processes of established-outsider relations in the Palestinian society of the West Bank.

Learning to mock – Challenging the teaching establishment

There have been very few studies that apply the work of Mikhail Bakhtin and Norbert Elias to understand the underlying learning processes of young children. This article will explore the methodological similarities between Bakhtin’s ideas about the carnivalesque and Norbert Elias’s theory of established-outsider relations to explain how young children can undermine the authoritative discourses of teachers in preschool classrooms. It will focus on the playful mockery that young children display within their peer-groups to challenge teaching authority. I will argue that many of the humorous events produced by young children should be viewed as an attempt to violate their teachers’ expectations. Drawing attention to the utility of using humour as a special type of qualitative research tool illuminates the different ways that young children in different cultures can resist adult authority.

Strange and stranger ruralities: Social constructions of rural crime in Australia

Rural crime has largely been understood through social disorganization theory. The dominance of this perspective has meant that most research into rural crime has tried to resolve perceived strains in communities, rather than analyze how social problems are constituted in rural places. Using Elias and Scotson's (1994) account of established-outsider relations, the paper examines how the organizational capacity of specific social groups is significant in determining the quality of crime-talk and responses to crime in isolated and rural settings. In particular social 'oldness' and notions of what constitutes 'community' are significant in determining what activities and individuals or groups are marked as features of crime-talk in these settings.

Established – outsider relations in youth football tournaments: an exploration of transnational power figurations between Scandinavian organizers and African teams

This article examines Scandinavian constructions and readings of potential football migrants from the African continent by providing an investigation of the dynamics and narratives surrounding African football teams’ participation in three youth football tournaments. Drawing on Elias and Scotson’s (1965/1994) theory of established-outsider relations, we explore the transnational power relations and processes of inclusion and exclusion in group relationships. The data were collected between July and August 2012, as part of a wider study examining transnational migration and mobility in Scandinavian women’s football. Ethnographic observations were conducted at three Scandinavian youth football tournaments, and interviews were conducted with tournament organizers and representatives from participating women’s clubs/teams. The data suggest that a particular representation of self, on the part of the tournament organizers, as being providers of ‘development’ and gender equity programmes to African teams, is fundamental in maintaining the established-outsider power relations between Scandinavian and African football teams.

‘They treat me like I’m scum’: Social exclusion and established-outsider relations in a British tennis club

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the Lawn Tennis Association introduced numerous policies to remove barriers associated with social exclusion in tennis clubs. Ethnographic research was conducted within one club to analyse the incidence of social exclusion, and consider the success of LTA policies in these regards. Findings suggested the club made structural changes to receive LTA funding, such as removing exclusive membership and clothing restrictions, hiring coaches and establishing school–club links, yet its culture remained almost entirely inaccessible to new members. For analysis, Elias and Scotson’s ‘Established-Outsider Relations’ theoretical framework is applied: to discover who was excluded, how and why, and, to set the outcomes of power struggles between members in the wider social and historical contexts of changing LTA policies.

The Commercialising of British Men’s Basketball: Psychological Contracts Between Coaches and Players in the Post-Bosman Game.

This paper explores the psychological contracts of male players and coaches in British commercial basketball, and the ways in which these might be shaped by the constraining and enabling pressures of athletic talent migration. It draws on qualitative interview data to argue that commercialising changes in the game’s recent history have led to the emergence of divergent forms of psychological contract between coaches and players. These have promoted the interests of the game’s migrant Americans at the expense of its indigenous athletes. In particular, while the Americans reap the benefits of a high social reputation, material rewards and career development, many indigenous athletes working in the top-flight clubs struggle to gain remuneration and court-time and must fall back on their own resources to build self-confidence and self-respect. It is argued that this marginalising process was intensified following the Bosman ruling of 1995, which led to the exodus of many skilled indigenous players from the UK and prompted the commercial league to make more extensive use of Americans. Interpretation of the study’s findings is informed by Elias’ theory of established-outsider relations.

Established-outsider Relations between Males and Females in the Field of Sports in Ireland

This paper will introduce readers to the field of sports in the Republic of Ireland with specific reference to changing power relations between the sexes. It will situate a present-day social phenomenon, that is, Irish females‘ increasing involvement in what are seen traditionally as male-associated sports such as Gaelic football, rugby and soccer, within the context of social processes in which more or less independent groups of people (that is, male and female sportspeople) are becoming more interdependent. Qualitative data including 12 in-depth interviews with high performance (elite) female athletes (conducted between 1999 and 2002), three in-depth interviews with leading Irish sports officials (1999–2003) and participant observation notes (from the author's involvement in the field of sports since the early 1990s) will be used to examine aspects of the sport-gender nexus in Ireland. These will be situated within a sociological analysis of the emergence and development of sports for women since the 1970s, and they will be used to argue that the relatively slight shift in the balance of power in favour of females since the 1970s has led to feelings of emancipation amongst females and resistance amongst some males, though this resistance is gradually becoming weaker. Elias's theory of ‘established–outsider’ relations will be applied to suggest that females who participate in sports such as rugby, soccer and Gaelic football to a lesser extent, can be described as an ‘outsider’ group – that is, as one that has lacked the organisational resources and networks of mutual assistance to shift significantly the uneven balance of power between the sexes. Moreover, typical of outsiders in their relations with the established, dominant stereotypical views of females remain embedded in the personality structures of ‘outsiders’.

Established-outsider relations between males and females in male-associated sports in Ireland

This paper introduces readers to the field of male-associated sports in the Republic of Ireland with specific reference to power relations between the sexes. It situates a present-day social phenomenon, i.e. Irish females’ increasing involvement in traditional male-associated sports such as Gaelic football, rugby and soccer, within the context of social processes in which more or less independent groups have become more interdependent. Qualitative data from twelve in-depth interviews with high performance female athletes are situated within a sociological analysis of the emergence and development of these sports for women. These are used to support the argument that the relatively slight shift in the balance of power in favour of females has led to feelings of emancipation amongst females and resistance amongst males, though this resistance is gradually becoming weaker. Elias’ theory of “established-outsider” relations is used to suggest that females who participate in these sports can be described as an ‘outsider’ group, one that has lacked the organizational resources and networks of mutual assistance needed to shift significantly the uneven balance of power between the sexes. Moreover, typical of outsiders in their relations with the ‘established’, dominant stereotypical views of females remain embedded in the personality structures of ‘outsiders’.

The Struggle of Becoming Established in a Deprived Inner-City Neighbourhood

The theory of established-outsider figurations developed by Norbert Elias is a useful tool for examining deprived neighbourhoods. The case of this paper is Dortmund Nordstadt in Germany, an old inner-city neighbourhood which from its early days has housed the newly arrived immigrants. Elias claims that the social cohesion of the established together with the stigmatisation of the outsiders lead to status and power differentials that exclude the outsiders. In Nordstadt, three levels of established-outsider relations overlap and affect each other. On the first, the societal level, the Germans stand opposite to the immigrants. On the second, the city level, Nordstadt is put into the outsider position. Furthermore, the spatial hierarchy is linked with the first level of established-outsider relations as Nordstadt is a traditional immigrant neighbourhood. On the third, the neighbourhood level, the other established-outsider relations are in part reproduced and in part changed by recent developments.

Power Changes and Self-Respect: A Comparison of Two Cases of Established-Outsider Relations

This article is based on two studies of outsiders in an emancipation process. 1) The first one deals with homosexuals (van Stolk and de Regt, 1979), and the second with women (van Stolk and Wouters, 1983); both studies were carried out in a social service organization. Most of the homosexuals sought counselling because of difficulties in accepting themselves; they suffered from a lack of self-respect. The women, predominantly working-class, had been taken into a crisis centre after having run away from their partners. In doing so most of them had given way to pressure due to an increase in self-respect; in effect they could no longer tolerate the way they had been treated. The problems of both the homosexuals and the runaway women are examined in the context of a decreasing inequality of power in the relations between homosexuals and heterosexuals, and between men and women respectively. With the help of Norbert Elias’s established-outsider theory, the relation between women and men is compared to that between homosexuals and heterosexuals. The main focus is on the connection between changes in their mutual balance of power, in the respect shown them socially and in their self-respect. The comparison is preceded by a short survey of the main conclusions of the two empirical studies.