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Introduction  

Ali Rattansi

in Racism: A Very Short Introduction

Introduction

1. Racism and racists: some conundrums  

Ali Rattansi

in Racism: A Very Short Introduction

1. Racism and racists: some conundrums judenrein , or ‘clean of Jews’. The Nazis were in no doubt that Jews were a distinct race and posed a threat to the Aryan race to which authentic Germans supposedly belonged. With hindsight, it is possible to see that many of the dilemmas that have accompanied the proliferation of the notion of racism were present from the beginning. The idea that Jews were a distinct race was given currency by Nazi racial science. But before that, there was little consensus that Jews were a distinct race. Does that make it inappropriate to describe

1. What is multiculturalism?  

Ali Rattansi

in Multiculturalism: A Very Short Introduction

1. What is multiculturalism? Perhaps what is clearest in recent public debates about multiculturalism is that not much is clear when it comes to the key terms involved. An acceptable definition of multiculturalism has been notoriously elusive. In turn, proposed alternatives such as ‘integration’ have also remained vague. It is best, then, to begin with some brief historical and terminological preliminaries to which the discussion will return at various points in the book. Cultural diversity and multiculturalism ‘Multiculturalism’ entered public discourses in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when both Australia and Canada began to declare their support for it.

4. ‘Integration’, class inequality, and ‘community cohesion’  

Ali Rattansi

in Multiculturalism: A Very Short Introduction

4. ‘Integration’, class inequality, and ‘community cohesion’ As the backlash against multiculturalism has gathered pace, it has been replaced by ‘integration’ as the key theme of national and local policies towards ethnic minorities throughout Europe. In addition, especially in the UK, the ideas of ‘community cohesion’, ‘social cohesion’, and ‘citizenship’ have also been heavily trailed as the new way forward in managing the incorporation of ethnic minorities into the national polity. The British government now has communities ministers, a Commission for Integration and Cohesion, and new government departments. And throughout Western Europe, there has been a new emphasis on clarifying

8. Beyond institutional racism: ‘race’, class, and gender in the USA and Britain  

Ali Rattansi

in Racism: A Very Short Introduction

8. Beyond institutional racism: ‘race’, class, and gender in the USA and Britain Origins Black Power (1967), their powerful indictment of persistent black inequalities. Stokely and Carmichael wanted to highlight the process whereby, no matter whether the individual attitudes, motivations, and behaviour of ordinary white people were racist or not, all whites benefited from social structures and organizational patterns which continually disadvantaged blacks while allowing whites to stay well ahead in living standards, including housing, health and life span, neighbourhood amenities and safety, educational facilities and achievement, level of employment, and income and wealth. They made it clear that

3. Has multiculturalism created ghettos and ‘parallel lives’?  

Ali Rattansi

in Multiculturalism: A Very Short Introduction

3. Has multiculturalism created ghettos and ‘parallel lives’? Riots, reports, and terrorism: 2001 and after The summer and autumn of 2001 were to prove fateful and, some might argue, fatal for multiculturalism in Britain and the rest of Europe. May, June, and July of 2001 saw ferocious civil disturbances in the northern English ‘mill towns’ (so called because they had previously had thriving textile mills) of Burnley, Oldham, and Bradford. Street battles raged between British Asian youth, mostly Muslim and of South Asian origin, white youth – many belonging to the Far-Right British National Party – and police. Firebombs damaged