Joel Busher

Joel's research addresses three main areas:

1) The social ecology of political violence and anti-minority politics

Joel's initial work in this area comprised an ethnographic analysis of anti-minority activism, resulting in his monograph 'The Making of Anti-Muslim Protest: Grassroots Activism in the English Defence League', for which he was awarded the British Sociological Association’s Philip Abrams Memorial Prize, 2016. His research here addresses questions about how and why people become involved in anti-minority activism; what sustains, energises or undermines such activism, and how it evolves through interaction with other actors.

He has subsequently carried out mixed-methods research on the dyanmics of anti-minority politics; theoretical and empirical work on processes of 'cumulative extremism' or 'interactive escalation' and is currently PI on a project on the 'Internal Brakes on Violent Escalation', funded by the Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST).

2) The implementation of counter-terrorism policy and its societal impacts

Joel has led research on the interpretation and implementation of the Prevent duty in schools and colleges. This research, funded by the Aziz Foundation, gave rise in 2017 to the first major public report on this topic. He has presented on this research to a range of national and international academic and policy practitioner audiences. He is currently working with a network of local authorities across the UK to explore how they respond to, interpret and implement counter-terrorism and counter-extremism policy.

3) The Brexit journeys of British people living in Spain

Joel is currently undertaking a British Academy-funded project about the Brexit journeys of British people living in Spain - 'Costa del Brexit'. The project uses repeat narrative interviews to explore how British people living in Spain are navigating the uncertainties that Brexit entails.

What links his work across these areas is a broader empirical and theoretical interest in the processes of mobilization and collective action and how these intersect with the everyday efforts of human beings to live what they consider to be good lives. As well as generating research publications, Joel’s research has led to frequent and on going engagement with policy and practitioner communities at local, national and international levels.

Joel joined CTPSR in 2014. Prior to joining CTPSR, he held post-doctoral fellowships at Huddersfield University and the University of East London, and worked as an analyst for the Defence Science Technology Laboratory (DSTL). He holds a PhD in Development Studies from the University of East Anglia and an MA in Philosophy and Italian from The University of Edinburgh. He is a fluent Spanish speaker.

Social movements; Mobilization; Political violence; Anti-minority protest; Counter-terrorism; National and transnational identities and belonging; Moral orders; Discrimination; Inequalities; Relational-sociology; Mixed methods

The broad aim of my research is to document and enhance understanding of how human interaction – the rituals that shape and comprise our everyday lives; the cognitive and moral orders that we make, break and patch together again; and the emotional rhythms of our lives – gives rise to or undermines harmonious social relations and human well-being.