Profile

Biography

Steven completed his BA at UCLA in California in 2007 and attained an MA in Comparative Politics at the University of York in 2009. His area of research is asylum policy in the UK with a focus on service and housing provision for asylum seekers. He is a PhD candidate in the Department of Politics and the Centre for Applied Human Rights at the University of York.

In November 2011, Steven began working as a Teaching Fellow within the Department of Sociology and assists Brian Loader in the instruction of the department's Contemporary Political Sociology course. He also provides administrative and creative support for the Centre for Urban Research, a new centre within the Department of Sociology, which tracks the changes and developments in urban and regional economies and the transformation of city spaces and environments during economic and social upheaval.

Research

Overview

 In addition to his PhD work concentrating on the subject of service provision for asylum seekers in the UK, Steven is also working on a book chapter, which highlights the accentuation of notions of ‘the other’ during times of social discord. The chapter will draw parallels between the riots of 1958 and the rise in anti-immigration legislation in the 1960s and 1970s and the perceptions of British ‘alienness’ in the actions of some rioters during the urban unrest of August 2011.

Publications

Selected publications

25 February 2011: 'Still Human, Still Here' (U. of York and Amnesty International): Destitution of asylum seekers within the UK - Steven Hirschler

22 September 2011: 'Urban Unrest' (CURB - University of York): Riots in retrospective: lessons from 1958 and beyond - Steven Hirschler