Stirring Up Hatred: Myth, Identity and Order in the Regulation of Hate Speech (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9783031192418)

This book critically examines the development of the 'stirring up hatred' offences which are currently found within the UK's Public Order Act 1986. Through a critical discourse analysis of key excerpts of parliamentary Hansard, the book constructs a detailed genealogy of the offences from the perspectives that shaped them. A novel application of theory on 'myth' is used to navigate the complex arguments and to trace ideas about identity and order across parliamentary debates, from fears of Fascism in the 1930s to condemnations of homophobia in the early 21^st century. The story of the stirring up hatred offences told in this book therefore extends far beyond the traditional frame of a dilemma between regulating hate speech and safeguarding free speech: it is inextricably entwined with myths about law, race and national identity, and speaks to wider themes of coloniality, neoliberalism, white entitlement, British-Christian exceptionalism and the innocence of law. Writtenin an accessible and engaging style, this book challenges a wide range of assumptions about hate speech law and raises a series of considerations for developing forms of accountability that are less complicit in the harms that they are supposed to redress.

Author: Jen Neller
ISBN-10: 3031192419
ISBN-13: 9783031192418
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Language: English
Published: 12/04/2022
Pages: 302
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.16lbs
Size: 8.27h x 5.83w x 0.75d