ABSTRACT
In this essay I draw principally on Geoff Pearson’s work on deviance that he wrote more than 30 years ago to illustrate its usefulness for assessing social policies. Using his analytical and sociological approach I assess the UK Coalition government’s extremism policy. It is remarkable that his approach for assessing contemporary social issues remains pertinent and insightful, and how it exposes troubling aspects of the extremism agenda. I am pretty certain that Geoff would be very agitated by some of the research on terrorism and responses to extremism by professionals because characterisations of, and reactions to, extremism have to a great extent fallen into the traps that Geoff warned policymakers and researchers about. By applying Geoff’s approach to a current policy concern the case for a policy re-think is clear and its contribution to informing policymakers and practitioners how to improve policies and practices apparent. As shown in this essay, research, debates and responses to extremism have in many ways reached a cul-de-sac and a critical sociological analysis is able to progress debates and improve our responses.
