Towards a Vigilant Society From Citizen Participation to Anti-Migrant Vigilantism

Towards a Vigilant Society sheds light on the emergence of a new society of vigilance, in particular the actions of anti-migrant groups around Dover and Calais. Based on field research on both sides of the channel, it studies the dynamics of these groups - midway between a social movement and vigilantism - at these two key points in the international migration route between the European Union and the United Kingdom.

In recent years, a series of anti-migrant groups have been mobilising on both sides of the Channel to counter migrations. Their actions range from demonstrations, to violence against migrants. And by staging their actions on social media, which is an extraordinary sounding board, these groups can build an online community and a mass audience, influencing public opinion and even the migration policies of states.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

Matthijs Gardenier, University Paul Valery Montpellier

Matthijs Gardenier is Doctor in Sociology. His research is on social movements, political violence and social media. He completed a PhD on the sociology of crowds and on crowd policing at the University of Montpellier. Since then, he has been working on anti-migrant movements and on conservative
participation to security and policing, with a focus on vigilantism. From 2019 to 2021, he conducted a British Academy Newton International Fellowship at the University of Manchester on anti-migrant groups in Dover and in Calais. Matthijs Gardenier has also been teaching at the Universities of
Montpellier and of Brasilia (Brazil) since 2012. He has also produced several sociological documentaries.

Chapter 1: Practitioners of vigilantism
Chapter 2: Return to vigilantism
Chapter 3: The Social organisation of Neighbourhood surveillance
Chapter 4: Vigilantism as a social reaction to migrations
Chapter 5: Anti-migrants groups in Calais: the spectacle of vigilance
Chapter 6: Contentious migrations in Dover
Chapter 7: Trajectories of engagement