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From the Oppressive Majority to Oppressed Minority? Changing White Self-Identifications

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'Race,’ Space and Multiculturalism in Northern England

Part of the book series: Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series ((CAL))

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Abstract

This chapter examines the curious journey of the region’s majority White community from being the taken-for-granted norm to feeling (at least in parts) that it is a marginalised, second-class status group. This chapter uses empirical research data from the region to directly and critically engage with the claims that there is now a ‘White working class’ that understands both its own identity and its economic and political marginalisation in explicitly racialised terms. It critically discusses the internal and external factors involved in such shifting identifications, and feelings of ‘unfairness’, including the extent to which local and national policies have reflected or indeed led such shifts in identifications, and the relational nature of these identifications and the perceptions and experiences driving them. It also discusses the political manifestations of this ‘white working class’ in the region.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education and Professional Development, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK

    Shamim Miah, Pete Sanderson & Paul Thomas

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  1. Shamim Miah
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Correspondence to Shamim Miah .

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Miah, S., Sanderson, P., Thomas, P. (2020). From the Oppressive Majority to Oppressed Minority? Changing White Self-Identifications. In: 'Race,’ Space and Multiculturalism in Northern England. Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42032-1_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42032-1_6

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