Nationalism and Multiculturalism: Making Way into Britain - Coursework Example

Nationalism and Multiculturalism: Making Way into Britain The emphasis on nationalism in different parts of the world has been since the beginning of 20th century. Multiculturalism, on the other hand, may seem to be a relatively new concept in the first look. However, it traces its origins back to the military conquests and invasions by people of various locations into different territories. It took deeps roots in Europe and America after Second World War with the influx of immigrants from different parts of the world to the West, which was progressing rapidly with the advent of capitalism and a strengthening economy. This was a critical period that coloured the attitudes in Britain to multiculturalism. ‘Race’, Ethnicity, Racism and Identity It has been argued that most of the literature on race, ethnicity and class is itself not aware of the inherent meaning of these terms and that these issues must be more deeply contextualised. Hence, ‘race’ is a concept difficult to comprehend, which can understood in terms of a social formation (Hall, 1996), whose delineation according to populations, for example Asian, White etc. On the other hand, ‘ethnicity’ is often used with religion and/or national identity. Racism is a concept which originated from the discourse or ideology of ‘race’. There is a debate whether racism should just be considered an ideology or also intentional or unintended practices. It is roughly defined as any discourse which represents human beings, and the social relations between them, in a deformed and ambiguous manner. Identity is a much-debated and reflected-upon concept. With the emergence of heterogeneous societies, usually in the West, a lot is said about the notion of identity. This concept is even inflated to describe the identity of various groups of people living in one society. However, Bhikhu (2006) expresses identity as having those characteristics which the people prefer associate to and describe themselves and “form an integral part of their self-understanding” (Bhikhu, 2006). This may be in the form of their motherland, religion, sect, colour or any characteristic of their own choice. Usually, their demand for recognition in the society far exceeds the limits of “toleration” and hence in a multicultural society, becomes the basis of strife and tensions which will be examined in the paper in connection with the concept of culture, whose importance has emerged with the amalgamation of people from different origins, giving the cultural studies a new dimension to explore (Brown, Hickman, 1999). Hence, ‘cultural identity theory’ is said to have two concerns: one, that it assumes the notion of a single universalised identity of a person. Two, that the rise of identity politics and the voices of various identities has also distorted the concept of identity (Barker, 1999). Multiculturalism A multicultural society is one which is composed of several different cultural, ethnic and religious communities. Hence, it is imperative for it to devise ways of incorporating distinct legitimate (and even conflicting) demands and requirements of the communities. It is on this basis and the literature that this paper analyses the multiculturalism project in Britain. Bhikhu Parekh (2006) understands multiculturalism both as a political theory as well as a framework for political practice. He expounds upon the concept of multiculturalism on the highly controversial debates in liberalism in connection with post-Marxism, post-colonialism, racism and feminism. It is a concept which cannot be understood without understanding these. Nature of Black and Asian Identities in Britain British society is a combination of black, white and brown people. The Whites include Scots, Northern Irish and regional communities. Among the immigrants, there are people from Pakistani, Indian, Jamaican, African, Chinese and Malaysian origins. There are also cultural and religious communities like Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs. The 1991 census revealed the ethnic minority population of United Kingdom to be above 3 million (roughly 5.5 percent of the total population). This moved the government to think about regulating the minority policies and rights effectively. British ‘Race Relations Industry’ and Multiculturalism The concept of multiculturalism emerged with British ‘Race Relations Industry’ on the realisation that racial, ethnic and identity issues arise in every generation. Hence this concept was intended to construct a society “as composed of a hegemonic homogeneous majority”, where the small ethnical minorities and communities would be recognised with their own culture without any discrimination. This model suited the earliest generation when it was devised, and as a result the minorities and small communities got representation in the form of various religious and cultural organisations of the immigrants (Floya Anthias, 1992). It was later followed through its incorporation in educational policies, where the policy-makers largely considered the immigrants to be a part of Britain. They considered a multi-racial society to: “...participate fully in shaping the society as a whole within a framework of commonly-accepted values, practices and procedures...whilst also allowing...the ethnic minority communities in maintaining their distinct ethnic identities...” Place of Multiculturalism in British Legislation The British model of race relations is the most unique and major struggle to unify the different ethnicities in Europe, which facilitated the establishment of British ‘Race Relations Industry’. There were a few efforts in the past in the form of Race Relations Acts, passed in 1965, 1968 and 1976. However, all these faced an utter failure due to an inherent flaw in the assumptions: first, that the total population consists of different races, and secondly, racism largely affects those races. Hence, despite the vast struggles and major efforts on the governmental and non-governmental level, ethnic minority groups continue to exist amidst the discrimination of Black/Asians vs. Whites. These include Black Africans, Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi immigrants (Alexander, 1996). The Britons continue to have a competitive agenda among them and the youth does not believe in this concept of multiculturalism anymore, to solve the problems of race, identity and ethnicity (Alibhai-Brown, 2000). Race, Multiculturalism and the Media In the literature on the role of media in society, five important roles are discussed. These are: 1. Surveillance: Here, there is the lookout role of the media where it keeps a check on the practices and acts that are a threat to the existing order and delivers such information to the people and the government. 2. Correlation: This is the interpreting and linking function of the media with the society, which helps it “understand, interpret and comprehend the different things that are happening in and out of the society”. It also gives them an awareness to the people to stay in touch with the other society members. 3. Transmission: This is where usually the electronic, and also the print media’s role come where the media is responsible of for defining the norms, rules and practices in the society and delivers them to the audience through the portrayals. Usually these rules are adapted by members of the society. 4. Entertainment: Through films, music, dramas etc., the media entertains its audience and make them laugh, cry, happy, sad etc. In this way, the role of media is not just restricted to delivering information, but also a diversion and distraction from the normal (usually political) news. 5. Economic service: The media also play an economic role in the society in the form of corporations, which serve the needs of share holders and other (bigger or smaller) corporations by attracting audiences through advertisements, who responds to the advertisements by paying for the product or serving the intended target. This way, the media generate collective consciousness among the mass audience in various ways. In the society where there is variety of cultures present, the media still manages to raise collective consciousness in the people. Television is one example. It is argued that it is a “proliferating resource for the construction of cultural identity” which is not a determined essential substance; rather it is a social construction which is contingent on the language and media (Barker, 1999). Advertising is another, where the corporations advertise their product and the media responds accordingly. However, it is a crucial task on the part of media to cater to the heterogeneous society. Their challenge was to find a common theme or devise one which may appeal all. This way, the media reinforced collective consciousness in the multicultural audience and gave representation to all. For example, black characters were depicted in the movies and dramas. One way that the media used to attract all was the use of symbols and stereotypes, understandable by all. This proved very helpful which allowed the media to encapsulate the societal groups by forming characters by giving them representation. The Influence of Media Although it was thought that the mass media would prove to be a magic bullet in shaping and influencing the minds of people towards the acceptance of a multicultural society (Cottle, 2000). This was included in the multiculturalism part as an effective society transformer, however, it could only do very little in the society, let alone changing the mindsets. The audience does not function as a target, rather they decide themselves the way in which they wish to interpret and shape their and their children’s mindset by choosing the medium of their own choice. In this way, the effect of media remains largely on the people’s choice than a planned effect. It also had an adverse effect on the ethnic minorities, where their depiction as the “other”, even in Black cinemas, affected their psychological makeup and the usage of media (Baker, et. all, 1996). Bernardi (2008) has beautifully represented and narrated presence of the concepts of race, Ideologies of class, ethnicity, gender, nation and sexuality in his book The Persistence of Whiteness. These are still central concerns as are the growth of the business of filmmaking. On the Black, Asian, Latina and Native Americans Identities, it also seeks to explain how whiteness stills remains a dominating fact everywhere in contemporary Hollywood cinema, spreading to audiences, authors, genres and styles. Guess Whos Coming to Dinner, The Color Purple, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings are all included in the genres where from the western domination to “blaxploitation” continues and these provocative filmmakers depict the bias against non-Whites. All this contribited to the downfall of multiculturalism project. Implications of Multiculturalism – Minimised Tensions? Multiculturalism project was initiated with the hopes of creating a diverse, harmonious and a progressive society. However, its implications did not go as intended. The ethnic minorities still face discrimination at governmental, non-governmental and societal levels. Unemployment is thrice the national average among the Blacks, Africans, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. They are over-represented in semi- and unskilled labour work. They are also considered inferior in education and the British-born Whites, despite less qualification than the minorities, are preferred. Minorities are not represented in High Court judges and they are over-represented in prison and under-represented in positions of responsibility. The housing conditions are poor for the minorities. It is also affecting the young people of society, who are not passive recipients of the national ideologies that are depicted to them via the media and other channels. “Identities are being forged between black and white young people” (Back, 1994). Thus, the same discrimination is invoked among the youth, and racisms continue to flourish. Hence, multiculturalism has saved the ethnic minorities from discrimination. The unjust exclusion of minorities from a regular modern life still largely prevails in the British society. Conclusion The project of multiculturalism tried to incorporate all concepts of identity, race, nationhood and ethnicity to solve its problems. However, none of this proved to be useful and all the cultural strife and tensions were either exacerbated, or remained where they were. It has been said that within the next twenty years, a greater part of London’s population will be composed of ethnic minorities. With a wide range of communities within Britain, the government is faced with a huge responsibility of fair integration while the (still unfinished) experiment of multiculturalism appears to be failing. Britain is a combination of black, brown and white people. Every person residing in Britain is a British citizen and therefore a responsibility of government. Hence the challenge still remains for the British to rethink what it means to be a ‘British’ citizen and incorporate all the diverse communities without anyone’s loss of identity, culture or ethnicity. Bibliography Alexander, C, E., (1996) The Art of Being Black: the creation of Black British Youth Identities. Oxford: Clarendon. Alibhai-Brown, Y., (2000) After Multiculturalism. London: Foreign Policy Centre. Anthias, F., and Yuval-Davis, N., (1992) Racialized boundaries: race, nation, gender, colour and class and the anti-racist struggle. London: Routledge Back, L., (1994) New Ethnicities and Urban Culture: social identities and racism in lives. UCL Press. Baker, H. et al., (1996) Black British Cultural Studies: A Reader. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press. Barker, C., (1999) Television, Globalization and Cultural Identities. Berkshire: Open University Press Bernardi, D., (2008) The Persistance of Whiteness: Race and Comporary Hollywood Cinema. London: Routledge. Brown, A, and Hickman, M. et al., (eds.) (1999) Thinking Identities: Ethnicity, Racism and Culture. London: Palgrave, Macmillan. Cottle, S., (ed.) (2000) Ethnic Minorities and the Media. Berkshire: Open University Press Hall, S., (1996) ‘Minimal Selves’. In H. Baker, M. Diawara, and R. Lindeborg (eds.) Black British Cultural Studies: A Reader. Chicago & London: The University Chicago Press, pp.16-50 Parekh, B., (2006) In Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Read More