The nature of the UK as a multiethnic society

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  • The nature of the United Kingdom as a multi-ethnic society
    • Introduction
      • UK has always been a mixed society
        • Celts, Romans, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, Vikings and Normans are all ancestors of the British
      • UK has always believed in human freedom and offered asylum for those suffering persecution
        • e.g. French Protestants in 17th century
        • Russian Jews in the 19th century
        • European Jews escaping Hitler in the 20th century
      • Empire - 19th century
        • in exchange for being ruled by britain, citizens of empire could settle in UK
          • slaves who set foot on British soil immediately became free
            • as a result, small black communities in Bristol, Liverpool and Cardiff
        • became known as Commonwealth as nations gained their independence from UK
          • 1950s - substantial immigration from Commonwealth
            • from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, West Africa and Caribbean to lessen a labour shortage in UK
              • many of these had fought for UK in WWII
      • Immigration from Commonwealth continued on smaller scale
        • but extension of EU = more eastern Europeans
          • wars and racial/religious persecutions = increase in asylum seekers
      • only 7.9% of total UK is ethnic minority, hay grandes differencias en otra áreas
        • e.g. 29% of London's population is of ethnic minority origin
          • as opposed to less than 2% of population of South West England
    • Discrimination and Racism
      • the belief that some races are superior to others
        • type of prejudice
      • can cause major problems in a multiethnic society due to discrimination it leads to
        • racist people believe that the ethnic group which they belong to is better than others
          • therefore they believe all other races are inferior
      • religiously prejudiced people believe that everyone who does not believe in their religion is wrong
      • Problems
        • racially/religiously prejudiced employers don't give jobs to certain groups
        • prejudiced landlords likely to refuse accommodation
        • teachers are prejudiced = bad grades for the pupils --> not as good jobs for later life as not good grades
        • prejudiced police officers potentially discriminate i.e. stopping and searching
      • Effects
        • if certain groups feel that they are being treated unfairly = alienated by society and work against that society
        • some politicians think young black people turn to crime as they feel they will not get a good well-paid job because of racism and disc. --> good money from crime
          • could lead to increase in crime
        • terrorist attacks
          • turning to extremist Islamic groups as feel no chance of success in prejudiced British society
        • BNP rise
          • stir up hatred of different ethnic groups leading to violence and communal warfare
      • Benefits of living in a multi-ethnic society
        • less chance of war
          • as people of different ethnicities get to know each other and maybe intermarry
        • more progress
          • more people = new, different and interesting ideas
            • Amazonian Indians less progressive as cut off from other cultures
        • Life more interesting
          • variety of food, fashion, music and entertainment
        • we have more in common than we have differences
          • different ethnic groups all part of human race
            • vital in world of multi-national companies and economic independence between all nations

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