Abstract
In recent decades, the size and diversity of the minority population of contemporary western societies has increased significantly. To the critics of immigration, minority youth have been increasingly linked to crime, criminal gangs, anti-social behaviour, and riots. In this article, we draw on fieldwork conducted in Sydney, Australia’s largest and most ethnically diverse city, to probe aspects of the criminality, anti-social behaviour, national identity, and belonging of ethnic minority youth in Australia. We conclude that the evidence on minority youth criminality is weak and that the panic about immigrant youth crime and immigrant youth gangs is disproportionate to the reality, drawing on and in turn creating racist stereotypes, particularly with youth of ‘Middle Eastern appearance’. A review of the events leading up to the Sydney Cronulla Beach riots of December 2005 suggests that the underlying cause of the riots were many years of international, national, and local anti-Arab, anti-Muslim media discourse, and political opportunism, embedded in changing but persistent racist attitudes and practises. Our argument is that such inter-ethnic conflict between minority and majority youth in Sydney is the exception, not the rule. Finally, we draw on a hitherto unpublished survey of youth in Sydney to explore issues of national identity and belonging among young people of diverse ethnic and religious background. We conclude that minority youth in Sydney do not live ‘parallel lives’ but contradictory, inter-connected cosmopolitan lives. They are connected to family and local place, have inter-ethnic friendships but are often disconnected to the nation and the flag.
Résumé
Depuis quelques dizaines d’années, la taille et la diversité des populations minoritaires dans les sociétés occidentales contemporaines ont augmenté de façon significative. Ceux qui critiquent l’immigration maintiennent que les liens entre les jeunes immigrants d’une part et la criminalité, les gangs de criminels, les comportements anti-sociaux et les émeutes d’autre part sont de plus en plus marqués. Dans cet article, nous puisons dans des études sur le terrain entreprises à Sydney, la ville la plus grande de l’Australie et la plus diverse sur le plan ethnique, pour étudier des aspects de la criminalité, les comportements anti-sociaux, l’identité nationale et le sentiment d’appartenance chez les jeunes de minorités ethniques en Australie. Nous concluons que les notions sur la criminalité chez les jeunes de minorités ethniques ne sont pas soutenues par des éléments de preuve concluants et que la panique relative à la criminalité chez les jeunes et les gangs de jeunes immigrants est disproportionnée par rapport à la réalité; tout en se nourrissant de stéréotypes racistes, ces attitudes en créent d’autres, notamment quant aux jeunes «d’apparence des gens du Moyen-Orient». L’étude des événements ayant mené aux émeutes qui se sont produites sur la plage Cronulla de Sydney en décembre 2005 donne à penser que la cause profonde des émeutes consistait en des années de discours médiatiques et de stratégies politiques opportunistes de provenance internationale, nationale et locale, de nature anti-arabe et anti-musulmane, et enracinés dans des attitudes et des pratiques racistes. Nous affirmons qu’à Sydney, ce genre de conflit interethnique entre jeunes de minorités et ceux de la majorité constitue une exception, plutôt qu’une norme. Finalement, nous puisons dans une enquête non publiée et entreprise auprès des jeunes à Sydney pour étudier des questions d’identité nationales et d’appartenance chez les jeunes gens de diverses origines ethniques et religieuses. Nous concluons que les jeunes de minorités à Sydney ne mènent pas des «vies parallèles» mais des vies contradictoires, interconnectées et cosmopolites. Ils sont liés à leur famille et à leur localité, ils entretiennent des amitiés interethniques, mais ils ne sont pas souvent connectés à la nation et au drapeau.
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Collins, J., Reid, C. Minority Youth, Crime, Conflict, and Belonging in Australia. Int. Migration & Integration 10, 377–391 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-009-0112-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-009-0112-1