"...when I was a young lad I had a golly*** and I am not racist, even the lads down the plantation thought it was fun": A negotiation of prejudice and racism

Abstract

In everyday interactions, people go to great lengths to avoid being attributed as prejudiced and racist. Previous writers have argued that this is a result of a cultural 'norm against prejudice' and have shown how speakers orient to the norm. However new research has argued that this norm is far from straight forward, and that there is a lack of understanding of how lay people do define and utilise attributions of prejudice and racism in everyday talk . This study examines how, in the specific context of an online forum discussion surrounding three teenagers dressing as Golliwogs in the local parade of a rural Scottish community, contributors orient to and deal with potential attributions of prejudice and racism, and how they negotiate in that context what is to count as prejudiced/racist. Analysis shows that contributors do not mention prejudice and make few references to racism/racists. Issues of lay definitions of prejudice/racism are therefore not made explicit notwithstanding that contributors appear to be orienting to potential ascriptions of prejudice and / or racism. Future research is needed to look at further negotiations surrounding prejudice and racism in various specific contexts, in order to build a greater understanding of how prejudice and racism are actually negotiated in everyday talk in lay terms.