Multiculturalism, Ethnicity and Integration: Some Contemporary Challenges

Abstract

This chapter offers an overview of some of the political challenges posed to British and other European societies by the mass immigration from outside Europe, especially former colonies, that took place mainly in the third quarter of the twentieth century (as shown in Table 2.6 in Chapter 2). As Chapter 2 makes plain immigration is ongoing. The concern here, however, is on settled minorities. While the focus is on Britain, some of these challenges are shared by other European countries and it is helpful to bear that in mind. In identifying the key issues and some of the key options, a brief look at the American twentieth-century experience in relation to immigrant integration is offered as it is suggested that the ethnic diversity characteristic of urban America has emerged as a growing feature of Europe, albeit with two major differences. Firstly, the deep white-black divide that was a feature that predated modern immigration in the USA is not matched by a comparable ‘fault-line’ in British or European societies, either in terms of its specificity (i.e., ‘race’ or ‘colour’) or in its singular magnitude. Western European countries such as Britain, France and the Netherlands practised forms of racism but as very few non-whites were present in these countries until the post-war migrations, the racial divide primarily manifested itself in overseas colonies. Secondly, the majority of post-war immigrants to Europe, unlike the USA at any point in its history, were Muslims.