Immigrants And Minorities In British Society

This book, first published in 1978, examines the debate over immigration into Britain and raises the important point that the existence in the country of immigrant and minority groups is nothing new. Britain has, in fact, attracted newcomers throughout most of its history and it is to remedy the deficiency of research and knowledge about these early immigration processes that the present volume has been put together. Composed of a number of essays written from different perspectives by specialists in different areas, it attempts overall to provide a tightly integrated review of the major research areas, themes and problems involved in immigration studies.

In this book, first published in 1991, Colin Holmes examines responses to those immigrants and refugees who have been coming to Britain since the late nineteenth century as well as the perception and treatment of British-born minorities. He attempts to explain the hostility which these groups have encountered and reveals behind complex feelings and circumstances which have often gone unrecognised.

Immigration, ethnicity, multiculturalism and racism have become part of daily discourse in Britain in recent decades – yet, far from being new, these phenomena have characterised British life since the 19th century. While the numbers of immigrants increased after the Second World War, groups such as the Irish, Germans and East European Jews have been arriving, settling and impacting on British society from the Victorian period onwards. In this comprehensive and fascinating account, Panikos Panayi examines immigration as an ongoing process in which ethnic communities evolve as individuals choose whether to retain their ethnic identities and customs or to integrate and assimilate into wider British norms. Consequently, he tackles the contradictions in the history of immigration over the past two centuries: migration versus government control; migrant poverty versus social mobility; ethnic identity versus increasing Anglicisation; and, above all, racism versus multiculturalism. Providing an important historical context to contemporary debates, and taking into account the complexity and variety of individual experiences over time, this book demonstrates that no simple approach or theory can summarise the migrant experience in Britain.

Examines immigration, ethnicity and racism in Britain from 1815 to 1945. This book tackles four themes: why so many immigrants made their way to Britain during that time; the geographical, gender and economic divisions of newcomers; ethnicity; and the reactions of the British to the newcomers.

Study of migration problems in the UK, with particular reference to the social integration of immigrant West Indian and Asian minority groups - outlines the theoretics of race relationships (intergroup relations) and studies the social implications of prejudice and discrimination, legal aspects, etc. Bibliography pp. 205 to 211, diagrams and statistical tables.