Paper short abstract:

The paper discusses community relations in an area of urban deprivation of Sheffield (UK) focusing on the local housing and labour markets as two technologies of relatedness and on the discourses of class and culture (here in the specific form of ‘race’) as two interlocking registers of appropriation which shape local policies and politics.

Paper long abstract:

Endcliffe is an area of ‘urban deprivation’ of Sheffield where relations between the white, Pakistani and Yemeni ‘working-class’ communities are fraught with tensions and conflicts revolving around job opportunities and housing allocations. The paper explores local notions of housing and labour markets, two ‘mechanisms’ through which relations between people, things and environment are made visible and durable, often leading to unequal forms of appropriation and distribution. In particular, the paper discusses two registers of appropriation in Endcliffe – one based on cultural identity and the other based on class stratification – and claims that the interlocking discourses of class and culture (here in the specific form of ‘race’) in Endcliffe led to local political tensions and to ineffective council-level policies.