An Overview of Research Interests

Across my work I examine how societies organise public policy, governance, state institutions and democratic systems in respond to questions of equality, citizenship, belonging and recognition. I am especially interested in how states respond to diversity and inequality, how racialised groups are represented and governed, and how public institutions translate ideals of justice into practice across policy domains including migration, welfare, health, education, housing and climate adaptation.

Public policy, governance and state institutions

My research is  is interdisciplinary and spans a number of topics in the social and political sciences. A central concern is how public institutions define and address racial inequality: through legislation, policy frameworks, administrative systems, civic participation and claims-making from minoritised communities. This includes work on race equality policy, anti-discrimination, devolved governance, welfare states and the institutional conditions that shape whether equality commitments become meaningful public outcomes.

Indicative publications

• Meer, N. (2020) ‘Race equality in a devolved context – assessing the obstacles and opportunities for a “Scottish approach”’, Journal of Social Policy, 49(2), 233–250.
• Meer, N. (2017) ‘What will happen to race equality policy in the Brexit archipelago? Multi-level governance, “sunk costs” and the “mischief of faction”’, Journal of Social Policy, 46(4), 657–674.
• Meer, N. (2022) ‘Who still needs the nation? Empire, identity and the British welfare state’, The British Journal of Sociology, 73(1), 50–59.
• Meer, N. (2010) ‘The implications of EC Race Equality and Employment Directives for British anti-discrimination legislation’, Policy and Politics, 38(2), 197–215.
• Meer, N., Akhtar, S. and Davidson, N. (2020) Taking Stock: Race Equality in Scotland. London: Runnymede Trust.
• Meer, N. (2016) Scotland and Race Equality: Directions in Policy and Identity. London: Runnymede Trust.

Citizenship, democracy and political belonging

A related strand of my work focuses on citizenship, democracy and political belonging. I examine how racialised and religious minorities are incorporated into democratic life, how they are represented in public debate, and how they exercise political agency within and beyond formal institutions. This includes research on Muslim political consciousness, minority representation, multicultural citizenship, national identity and the civic claims through which communities seek recognition, voice and equality.

Indicative publications

• Meer, N. (2015) Citizenship, Identity and the Politics of Multiculturalism: The Rise of Muslim Consciousness. 2nd ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
• Meer, N. (2010) Citizenship, Identity and the Politics of Multiculturalism. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
• Dobbernack, J., Meer, N. and Modood, T. (2015) ‘Misrecognition and political agency: The case of Muslim organizations in a General Election’, The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 17(2), 189–206.
• Jones, S. H., O’Toole, T., DeHanas, D. N., Modood, T. and Meer, N. (2015) ‘A “System of Self-appointed Leaders”? Examining Modes of Muslim Representation in Britain’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 17(2), 207–223.
• Peace, T. and Meer, N. (2025) ‘Race, ethnicity and UK politics’, in A. Convery (ed.) UK Politics. SAGE, pp. 59–74.
• Hill, E. and Meer, N. (2020) ‘Ethnic Minorities and Political Citizenship in Scotland’, in M. Keating (ed.) Oxford Handbook of Scottish Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Race, religion and racialisation

I have also written extensively on race, religion and racialisation, with particular attention to Islamophobia, antisemitism, whiteness, nationalism and postcoloniality. This work explores how religious and cultural identities become racialised in political discourse, public policy and everyday life, and how these processes shape the boundaries of belonging within Britain, Europe and other democratic societies.

Indicative publications

• Meer, N. (2014) Key Concepts in Race and Ethnicity. London: Sage.
• Meer, N. (ed.) (2014) Racialization and Religion: Race, Culture and Difference in the Study of Antisemitism and Islamophobia. London: Routledge.
• Meer, N. (2013) ‘Racialization and religion: race, culture and difference in the study of antisemitism and Islamophobia’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36(3), 385–398.
• Meer, N. and Modood, T. (2012) ‘For “Jewish” read “Muslim”? Islamophobia as a form of racialisation of ethno-religious groups in Britain today’, Islamophobia Studies Journal, 1(1), 34–53.
• Meer, N. (2014) ‘Islamophobia and postcolonialism: continuity, Orientalism and Muslim consciousness’, Patterns of Prejudice, 48(5), 500–515.
• Meer, N. and Noorani, T. (2008) ‘A sociological comparison of Antisemitism and anti-Muslim sentiment in Britain’, The Sociological Review, 56(2), 195–219.
• Breen, D. and Meer, N. (2019) ‘Securing whiteness? Critical Race Theory and the securitization of Muslims in education’, Identities, 26(5), 595–613.
• Meer, N. (2019) ‘The wreckage of white supremacy’, Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 26(5), 501–509.

Multiculturalism, interculturalism and the governance of diversity

Another major area of interest concerns multiculturalism, interculturalism and the governance of diversity. My research has examined the development, critique and resilience of multicultural ideas and practices, including their relationship to integration, civic participation, national identity and institutional recognition. I am interested in how states and societies manage difference, how policy models travel across contexts, and how democratic systems negotiate pluralism in conditions of inequality.

Indicative publications

• Sealy, T., Uberoi, V. and Meer, N. (eds) (2024) The Resilience of Multiculturalism: Ideas, Politics and Practice. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Meer, N., Modood, T. and Zapata-Barrero, R. (eds) (2016) Interculturalism and Multiculturalism: Debating the Dividing Lines. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Triandafyllidou, A., Modood, T. and Meer, N. (eds) (2011) European Multiculturalism(s): Cultural, Religious and Ethnic Challenges. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Meer, N. and Modood, T. (2012) ‘How does Interculturalism Contrast with Multiculturalism?’, Journal of Intercultural Studies, 33(2), 175–196.
• Meer, N. and Modood, T. (2009) ‘The Multicultural State We Are In: Muslims, “Multiculture” and the “Civic Re-balancing” of British Multiculturalism’, Political Studies, 57(3), 473–497.
• Meer, N., Mouritsen, P., Faas, D. and de Witte, N. (2015) ‘Retracing the “retreat”: Exploring post-multicultural and civic turns in the Netherlands, Britain, Germany and Denmark’, American Behavioral Scientist, 59(6), 702–726.
• Meer, N. and Modood, T. (2014) ‘Cosmopolitanism and integrationism: is multiculturalism in Britain a “Zombie category”?’, Identities, 21(6), 658–674.
• Meer, N. (2019) ‘The Bristol School of Multiculturalism, and the political sociology of identity’, Ethnicities, 19(6), 91–98.

Migration, refuge, local governance and climate justice

My recent and current research extends these concerns into migration, refuge, local governance and climate justice. Through collaborative work on asylum, displacement, housing, urban regeneration and labour market governance, I examine how rights and resources are unevenly distributed across local and national systems. More recently, I have focused on how race and racial inequality are included, marginalised or omitted in responses to climate adaptation, urban greening, vulnerability and environmental policy.

Indicative publications

• Meer, N. (2025) ‘Social Policy and the Determinants of Vulnerability: Missing “Race” in Climate Adaptation’, Social Policy and Society, 1–12.
• Haycox, H., Meer, N., Finney, N., Rhodes, J., Hill, E. and Leahy, S. (2025) ‘The Green Areas Are Out of Our Reach’: Racialisation, Erasure and Resistance in UK Urban Greening Initiatives’, Sociology, 59(1), 161–179.
• Haycox, H., Hill, E., Finney, N., Meer, N., Rhodes, J. and Leahy, S. (2024) ‘Housing governance and racialization: “Inclusivity” in housing access and experience’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 50(18), 4545–4562.
• Bennani-Taylor, S. and Meer, N. (2024) ‘Processing payments, enacting alterity: financial technology in the everyday lives of asylum seekers’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 50(10), 2384–2402.
• Meer, N., Hill, E., Peace, T. and Villegas, L. (2021) ‘Rethinking refuge in the time of COVID-19’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 44(5), 864–876.
• Hill, E., Meer, N. and Peace, T. (2021) ‘The role of asylum in processes of urban regeneration’, The Sociological Review, 69(2), 259–276.
• Meer, N., Dimaio, C., Hill, E., Angeli, A., Oberg, K. and Emilsson, H. (2021) ‘Governing displaced migration in Europe: Housing and the role of the “local”’, Comparative Migration Studies, 9, 2.
• Meer, N., Peace, T. and Hill, E. (2019) Integration Governance in Scotland: Accommodation, Regeneration and Exclusion. GLIMER Project Report.

Recognition, misrecognition and justice

A recurring theme across this work is the relationship between recognition, misrecognition and justice. I am interested in how racialised groups are named, classified, represented and heard, and in how claims for justice emerge through encounters with public institutions, democratic systems and everyday social life. My current work brings these concerns together by examining racial justice as both an institutional promise and a social practice.

Indicative publications

• Meer, N. (2026 forthcoming) The Social Life of Justice. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Meer, N. (2022) The Cruel Optimism of Racial Justice. Bristol: Policy Press.
• Meer, N. (2023) ‘Racialisation with general properties: Revisiting The Cruel Optimism of Racial Justice’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 46(13), 2922–2927.
• Meer, N. (2023) ‘Revisiting the cruel optimism of racial justice – A response to Fadil, Favell and St Louis’, Ethnicities, 23(6), 980–985.
• Meer, N. (2019) ‘W. E. B. Du Bois, double consciousness and the “spirit” of recognition’, The Sociological Review, 67(1), 47–62.
• Meer, N., Martineau, W. and Thompson, S. (eds) (2012) ‘Misrecognition and Ethno-Religious Diversity’, Ethnicities, 12(2), 131–248.
• Thompson, S., Meer, N. and Martineau, W. (eds) (2012) ‘Theory and Practice in the Politics of Recognition and Misrecognition’, Res Publica, 18(1), 1–106.