Anti-Discriminatory Practice (Third Edition)
Thompson, N. (2001) Basingstoke: Palgrave, £13.99, Paperback, 208 pp.
The task of marrying theoretically cogent and informed discussions of oppression and
discrimination in contemporary societies with a focus on the practice issues in anti-
discriminatory and anti-oppressive strategy and policy is incredibly difficult to do.
Translating conceptual strategies for equality, rights and justice into ‘lifeworld’ ideas and
practices involves a clarity of understanding of the relationship between structural social
determinants, the contested field of cultural representations and the subjective experience of
social process, institutions and orthodoxies. Neil Thompson’s work, principally both this text
- in its third edition - and his Promoting Equality, is an exceptional example of how this is
done well. Thompson is quite simply essential and required reading for any academic,
student or worker in the areas of public services and social care (1).
This text is probably his most directly accessible to practitioners, though its academic value is
considerable. In the first chapter, he identifies and cogently presents the complexity of
multiple oppressions that impact upon people’s ‘lifeworld’ experience and requires an
understanding of the need to develop a generic but subject sensitive model for understanding
oppression and building anti-oppressive strategy. Usefully, he begins his discussion by
arguing with clarity and eloquence that a concern with anti-oppressive strategy is not a
segmented product of ideological and ethical commitment but intrinsic to good practice in the
work-place and with those public services and social care seek to support and enable.
Chapter Two outlines his PCS (Personal, Cultural, Structural) model for understanding
oppression and discrimination. This model recognises the inextricable yet often dislocated
relationship between personal ‘lifeworlds’ and political discourse, and argues the necessity of
their integration, with special emphasis upon cultural practices in everyday work and social
contexts, and the use of language, representations and discourse to develop anti-oppressive
practice. The strength of this model is that it also allows Thompson to directly address the
‘hearts and minds’ issues of transition from oppressive to anti-discriminatory environments
and relationships.
The remainder of the book focuses on separate chapters on gender, race, ageism and
disability, with a more general chapter looking at oppression on the basis of difference, using
examples of religious belief, sexuality and mental illness as areas where anti-discriminatory
practice can be engaged. Finally, there is a concluding chapter which provides a summary of
the main themes of the text, reinforcing both the principles of anti-discriminatory practice and
the problems of engaging in anti-discriminatory practice.
The text is never less than clear and lucid, with case studies interspersed within the narrative
to make real the issues raised. The academic content is represented with clarity, but without
losing its sophistication. It is an extraordinarily readable text, and a text that can form the
basis of informed and intelligent discussions of the scope and limits of anti-discriminatory
practice, and how principles are translated into strategy and practice.
It is common for reviewers to seek to interpret the need for a balanced appraisal of a text to
involve finding points of weakness, oversight and error. For what this book does and says,
this reviewer would rather recommend that it is read by every person who is interested in a
less discriminatory world, who suffers discrimination and wants it to stop, or who sees it
happening and wants to be active against it. It is an extraordinarily valuable resource and an
excellent beginning to the task of thinking about and participating in the struggle for a non-
discriminatory world.
Paul Reynolds
Edge Hill College
