Ethnicity, Crime and Sex Work: A Triple Taboo

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterAcademic

Abstract

One of the greatest taboos in criminological research concerns ethnicity. Researchers who study the relationship between crime and ethnicity are often met with opposition from NGOs, human rights organizations, minority interest groups, politicians, sensation-seeking journalists or fellow academics. As a result, the findings of criminological research can be condemned, censored, filtered or denounced as ‘unscientific’ or ‘unprofessional’.

The ‘ethnicity taboo’ is especially strong in the context of research on sex work. This chapter focuses on obstacles to doing research on prostitution among specific ethnic groups, the responses of various ‘moral entrepreneurs’ to unwelcome findings and the role of the researcher in breaking taboos in social science research.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationEthical Concerns in Research on Human Trafficking
EditorsD. Siegel, R. de Wildt
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherSpringer
Pages71-83
Publication statusPublished - 2015

Keywords

  • ethnicity
  • stigmatization
  • discrimination
  • emic and etic
  • moral enterpreneurs

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