Multiculturalism and

Diversity

Intro

• Empire & Commonwealth

• Post-war immigration

• 1960s - Enoch Powell

• 1970s

• 1980s - Brixton Riots

• 1990s - Stephen Lawrence and the

Macperson Report

• Bradford Riots, 9/11, 7/7

• New Labour and ‘super-diversity’

• Recent/current issues

The British Empire

• The Crown and trade

• East India Company

• Power transferred to Crown 1858

• Acquired in a ‘fit of absence of mind?

Empire

End of Empire & The

Commonwealth

• 1947 Indian Independence

• Quick unravelling over next 20 years

• Growth of The Commonwealth (formed 1931) in 50s/60s

Post-war immigration

• 1948 Empire

Windrush

• 1950s Labour

shortage

• Large scale

migration from
India, Caribbean
etc.

By 1970s/80s - stable patterns

of settlement and community

• Low ‘primary’ migration

• The development of official policies – a

system for ‘handling’ multiculturalism

• Built through a number of key episodes

1960s – Enoch Powell

1968: ‘Rivers of Blood’
speech

Immigration and Political

Controversy

An elite/people split?

1970s

1970s

1976 - Comission for Racial Equality (CRE)

Anti-racism and a culture of multiculturalism
(local

government,

education etc.)

1980S - Brixton, City

Challenge

• 1981 – Brixton Riots (also Liverpool, Manchester,

Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds…)

• Scarman Report

• Govt. Response – e.g. ‘City Challenge’

• ‘Community relations’ and Social Inclusion

1990s Stephen Lawrence,

Macpherson Report

• 1993 – Stephen Lawrence murdered

in

South London

• 1999 – Macpherson Report

‘Institutional Racism’

Legal changes, e.g. ‘double jeopardy’
Hate Crime

Macpherson – For and

Against

For: re-invention of institutions,

protection

for minorities, social justice…

Against: Anti-democratic, free speech,
‘thought police’…

Post-Macpherson

Social Inclusion a central aim of

government policy

A society extremely sensitive to

racism, and to tackling it

Questions of balance

Before ‘global’ migration: ‘race

relations’ by the end of the 1990s

After 2001 – instability and the

‘end of multicuturalism?

• Bradford Riots, 9/11, 7/7 & Islam

• Global migration since the late-

1990s

2001 Bradford/Oldham

Riots

• Rioting and violence in July – 9/11

• Cantle Report (2006): social

segregation

• 7/7 & ‘home grown’ bombers

‘Global’ migration since

1990s

• Growth and variety of immigration

• Language & Culture the focus, not race

• Since 2001/2005 a new debate

• The ‘end of multiculturalism’? E.g. Sir

Trevor Phillips

• EU expansion 2004

British Social Attitudes Survey

January 2010

http://www.natcen.ac.uk/study/british-social-attitudes-26th-report

,

A large proportion of the country

believes that the multicultural

experiment has failed, with 52 per

cent considering that Britain is

deeply divided along religious lines

and 45 per cent saying that religious

diversity has had a negative impact

 

An example from the 2000s

Times/Labour Force Survey , 30.01.09

• Muslim population grew more than 500,000 to

2.4 million in four years 

• This population multiplied 10 times faster than

the rest of society (ONS)

• In the same period the number of ‘Christians’ fell

by more than 2 million. 

• Higher birthrate and conversions to Islam during

the period of 2004-2008

‘Super-diversity’ in London

• Pace and range of recent patterns of

global immigration = ‘super-diversity’

• 300+ languages spoken by

schoolchildren

• 2009: 25% of babies in UK born to

mothers born overseas

(London: Newham 75.7%, Brent 73.4%)

Demographic trends

• Growing population – now ove 60 million

• Eurostat – UK to have largest pop. in Europe

(70 million by 2050)

• ONS – 72 million by 2035 on current figures

• Most of the growth deriving from

immigration

European Parliamentary

Elections 2014

Ukip 27.5%, with 23 MEPs (4.3 milion votes)

Labour 25.4 with 18 MEPs

Conservatives 23.94% with 18 MEPs

Greens 7.87% with 3 MEPs

Liberal Democrats 6.87% with 1 MEP

2009 – Neather: ‘rubbing the

right’s nose in diversity’

• Three factors of the 2000s

• Business interests - New Labour’s conversion

- booming economy – EU expansion

• Organized people smuggling and asylum

• Belief the extension of cultural diversity in

Britain was a desirable goal

Summary

• Older pattern of ‘Commonwealth’

multiculturalism destabilised

• An old system and a new reality (Vertovec)

• Problem: Social Cohesion and the ‘end’ of

multiculturalism in a deeply multicultural
society?