Race Relations in Britain since 1945 provides a critical overview of the origins, development and present state of race relations in Britain. Highly contentious, the field of race relations is closely related to a number of issues which are regarded to be at the very heart of contemporary British life. Professor Goulbourne draws on a variety of historical, sociological, anthropological and political analyses to construct and advance a convincing and persuasive argument about differential incorporation into British society or inequality based on colour in the imperial and colonial era as well as the contemporary period.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of Britain's development since the end of the Second World War. It comprises 23 contributions from leading authorities and newer scholars, set in context with a foreword by Raymond Seitz. A comprehensive and fascinating introduction to Britain from the end of the Second World War Draws together the themes that have dominated discussion amongst scholars and media commentators The chapters are set in context with a foreword by Raymond Seitz Covers topics such as foreigh policy, political parties, the media, race relations, women and social change, science and IT, culture, industrial relations, the welfare state, and political and economic issues in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

This book probes what equality is and this means for both those at the centre and on the margins of British society.

Kathleen Paul challenges the usual explanation for the racism of post-war British policy. According to standard historiography, British public opinion forced the Conservative government to introduce legislation stemming the flow of dark-skinned immigrants and thereby altering an expansive nationality policy that had previously allowed all British subjects free entry into the United Kingdom. Paul's extensive archival research shows, however, that the racism of ministers and senior functionaries led rather than followed public opinion. In the late 1940s, the Labour government faced a birthrate perceived to be in decline, massive economic dislocations caused by the war, a huge national debt, severe labor shortages, and the prospective loss of international preeminence. Simultaneously, it subsidized the emigration of Britons to Australia, Canada, and other parts of the Empire, recruited Irish citizens and European refugees to work in Britain, and used regulatory changes to dissuade British subjects of color from coming to the United Kingdom. Paul contends post-war concepts of citizenship were based on a contradiction between the formal definition of who had the right to enter Britain and the informal notion of who was, or could become, really British. Whitewashing Britain extends this analysis to contemporary issues, such as the fierce engagement in the Falklands War and the curtailment of citizenship options for residents of Hong Kong. Paul finds the politics of citizenship in contemporary Britain still haunted by a mixture of imperial, economic, and demographic imperatives.

While there is an extensive sociological literature concerning race relations, racial discrimination and the process of migration, this has tended to focus on snapshots at a given moment in time. There are few historical accounts of the development of black communities in Britain. This book will be the first social history of a black community in modern times which attempts to weave many aspects of life together to give a more comprehensive understanding of the lives of black people in Britain. The book will address the way peoples’ lives are constructed through racialized identities and how African Caribbean people in Leicester relate to the wider community. It provides an important contribution to the debate concerning the social class profile of different ethnic groups. The work is gendered throughout and discusses the different nature of the experiences of men and women. The 1991 census shows Leicester to have the highest proportion of ethnic minority residents of any city outside London, however compared to other cities with black and Asian communities, it has received little attention from academics. The present study charts the development of Leicester’s African Caribbean community from its origins in the Second World War to 1981 and its changing construction from 'immigrants' to 'ethnic minority'.

This collection of essays was put together with a view to furthering the study of the history of immigration into Britain. Naturally enough, a good deal of attention in recent years has been directed at 'race relations' in Britain from the 1960s onwards. As Peter Fryer's study, Staying Power (1984), has shown, there is a rich and important history of black settlement before these years and its significance in shaping responses towards more recent migrants has still to be adequately evaluated. We are constantly being reminded of the legacy of empire and its importance in terms of influencing current policy and attitudes.