How to Build a Culture of Human Rights in the Era of Populism: Reflections From the Human Rights City of York (UK)

TY - JOUR

T1 - How to Build a Culture of Human Rights in the Era of Populism

T2 - Reflections From the Human Rights City of York (UK)

AU - Gready, Paul

N1 - © The Author(s) 2024

PY - 2025/8/1

Y1 - 2025/8/1

N2 - This article analyses how to build a culture of human rights in the era of populism. The UK, and the York Human Rights City initiative, provide a case study. The article draws on a human rights practice methodology, activist practices and broader social processes and practices, both in York, to analyse the potential of the ‘local’, and in particular cities, to develop a human rights culture. It argues that such a culture needs to go beyond current responses to populism, notably a focus on values and framing (a variant of ‘if only people knew’), to draw on thicker components of culture (history and place, rather than law and institutions). Interviews with artists in York as a proxy for wider public engagement suggest an enduring disconnect with human rights but also that meaning-making, co-creation, not just better communication, is needed to build a culture of human rights.

AB - This article analyses how to build a culture of human rights in the era of populism. The UK, and the York Human Rights City initiative, provide a case study. The article draws on a human rights practice methodology, activist practices and broader social processes and practices, both in York, to analyse the potential of the ‘local’, and in particular cities, to develop a human rights culture. It argues that such a culture needs to go beyond current responses to populism, notably a focus on values and framing (a variant of ‘if only people knew’), to draw on thicker components of culture (history and place, rather than law and institutions). Interviews with artists in York as a proxy for wider public engagement suggest an enduring disconnect with human rights but also that meaning-making, co-creation, not just better communication, is needed to build a culture of human rights.

KW - human rights cities, human rights practice, social processes / lived experiences of humanrights, culture of human rights, the local, populism

U2 - 10.1177/09646639241287753

DO - 10.1177/09646639241287753

M3 - Article

SN - 0964-6639

VL - 25

SP - 602

EP - 622

JO - Social and Legal Studies

JF - Social and Legal Studies

IS - 4

ER -