Professor Lee Jarvis explores the concept of ‘vernacular security’ in his new book ‘Radicalisation, counter-radicalisation, and Prevent – A vernacular approach.’
Co-authored with Stuart Macdonald (Swansea University), Andrew Whiting (Royal Holloway, University of London) this book offers the first sustained investigation into non-elite understandings of radicalisation and counter-radicalisation policy. Drawing on original focus group research with students from universities across England and Wales, the book explores how ‘ordinary’ citizens understand radicalisation, how they make sense of counter-radicalisation initiatives like the UK Prevent Strategy, and how they evaluate its functioning and effects across society.
‘Radicalisation, counter-radicalisation and Prevent’ demonstrates that these non-elite insights often contradict and diverge from traditional (elite) security knowledge and thus shed new light on wider questions around the politics of security. This has vitally important implications not only for counter-radicalisation and counter-terrorism policy but for the very study and practice of security.
The book has already been well received by notable academics in the field.
“In their timely new book, Jarvis, Macdonald, and Whiting offer a rich and nuanced analysis of the vernacular understandings and experiences of counter-radicalization initiatives such as the UK’s controversial Prevent program.” Tahir Abbas, Professor of Radicalisation Studies, Leiden University, Netherlands.
“This book is the first of its kind to interrogate the various ways in which ordinary people understand radicalisation as a concept within the UK, and it explores what they make of government policies and interventions such as Prevent.” Akin Oyawale, University of Warwick
Lee Jarvis is a Professor of International Politics at Loughborough University and a specialist in the politics of security. Lee also holds an honorary position as an Adjunct Professor in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Adelaide. Lee is author or editor of 15 books, and over fifty academic articles.
The book is now available to purchase via Manchester University Press.
