Racism in Britain - Research Proposal Example

 OUTLINE OF PROPOSAL (250 WORDS) Racism is cannot be merely considered as social in nature but highly political as well. It is to be understood not solely in the context of its social ramifications rather, on the political atmosphere that has gripping effects to how standards were set since then. At the start of the 21st century a new world order was concluded after centuries of struggles. However, the new order was magnified as setting up a hierarchy based on economic superiority, hence a modern struggle of slavery, cloaked in decency commenced. I aim to dissect the history of racism in the British soil, the past inclinations of the British justice system towards racism and the current standards that have already been set. The paper is divided into four main sections. First is an examination of the reason why racism existed in Britain and for how long has it existed. It is proposed in this paper that racism has affected and gave valuable impacts to the present British laws, either through as a reaction of the legislation to the rising concerns depicting racism within the country or to a larger scale, the global commotions in different parts of world depicting racial discrimination. A thorough discussion of these laws is imperative followed by detailed examples of how and up to what level has it affected policy making in the country. It is hypothesized, that the issues of racism has particularly impact policies on global relations, and even to laws pertaining to basic human rights and civil lerties such as rules on criminal procedure, due process, and sanctions for criminal acts. 1. LITERATURE SEARCH (500 WORDS) Racism is belief that a certain group of people is more superior to another. This theory oftentimes results into hostile conduct, unwarranted assaults, and violence towards the race labeled as inferior. Subtly, this belief sparked the constant practice of discrimination, oppression, and most often than not, history is the witness that the pursuit of the superior race to the opposite is often concluded in genocide. At a backdrop, racism is the assertion that the human race is divided into hierarchies, into partitions and these levels are distinguished from each other through superficial standards such as color and more profoundly by cultural behaviour; however, standards of racism vary from culture to culture at different parts of the world and this difference prompted various racism theories and hypotheses of its origins (Dijk). Power play is also an imperative factor when studying racism, the way power acts as an external influence it alters racism over time makes it a compelling factor. Most of the time, racism is more than just a showcase of disparity or a struggle between the inferior and the superior race or as an anti-social reflection, rather, racism in the modern society is a struggle between society and the State (Kundnani, 2001). However, racism is not confined and limited to a simple power struggle and stratification, since in fact, power is a product of and molded by racism itself (Modood, 2005). Creating a link between past and present laws is significant in considering the evolution of racism laws as developed in the United Kingdom. It is often acclaimed that UK has some of the most extensive and comprehensive laws and policies when it comes to race legislations (Modood, 2005). One of the earliest British laws on racism was the 1976 Race Relations Act that sanctions discrimination on the bases of colour, nationality and ethnical background among others. The 1976 Act was strengthened by the 2000 Race Relations Act. The Act aims to furnish wider safeguard against discrimination done by public authorities while placing positively enforceable duties to these authorities. These changes are clear response to the compelling need of the contemporary times. The 1976 Act gave more attention to clearly negative and almost retaliatory measures towards the ethnic and cultural minorities in the UK (Kundnani, 2007). Strengthening the laws that supports the protection of the minorities proves to be a necessary step in order to protect it own citizen. A very familiar notion by everyone is that racism which promotes violence and hatred to people on the basis of skin colour imputes liability to the “whites”. But we all understand that this is slowly changing and the reality is gradually becoming different from what we used to know. In a message by Chairman Nick Griffin of the British National Party, “What many people don’t know is that the indigenous people of Britain are not just the victims of such anti-white racist bias.” (Racism Cuts Both Ways), a large percentage of racism-related crimes in UK have whites as its victims. The escalating in the number of victims of what is now labeled as anti-white racism has gathered profound interest by the government. Some contemporary examples of racism in Britain are undoubtedly outcomes of the years of errors in policy-making; however rectify such mistakes will not be conceivable unless drastic measures that attends to the real problem are sought, wielded into laws, and aptly implemented. 2. JUSTIFICATIONS/CASE FOR SUPPORT (500 WORDS) For this part, two schemes will be discussed that encompass the objectives of this paper. These are the presence of racism in British laws and its subsequence in the present-day standards set. Multiculturalism Policies and laws were implemented in Britain in the 1980’s under the “multiculturalism” principle. However, a closer scrutiny of the policy would uncover that such is a means of control rather than as a defense. When we say “multiculturalism” during the 1980s, it means, the construction of policies that uprooted Asian cultures (among others) off their communities where they were inculcated anti-state ideologies and possibly turning them into rebels. These cultures were brought into classrooms, given ‘education’ so that they could be managed and modified under the direct supervision of the State. This multiculturalism has created a certain level of disorganization, especially among the Black community. In the book, The End of Tolerance by Kundnani (2007), he cited that because of this multiculturalism, the Black culture transformed into something worth a passive contemplation rather than a ‘movement”. This was made probable because of the successful separation of the different ethnic groups in Britain and in Europe in general, into distinct cultural blocs. This division resulted into the emergence of community leaders and the realigning of cultural and race relations as something closed and superficially, biological. To illustrate, there is a commotion, a cultural one, in Britain on certain communities that refused to integrate into the British culture. An example of these are the Muslims, even until now, opt to speak their own language, who continues to dress distinctly and adhere to the uniqueness of their culture, effectively creating a separate and often feared culture amongst the modern societies like that of Britain. It has been argued that these people shaved their connections off from the “shared values” of Britain societies because of refocusing cultures and communities based under the premise of politics and competitive recognition - multiculturalism. (Kundnani,2001) Globalization An objective of the paper is a thorough understanding of the phenomenon of racism and why it persisted in modern and democratic society. However, racism in the most modern societies like Britain cannot be understood, not in the context of British conditions alone but an important perspective are the global level that breeds racism at different parts of the continent (Poynting, & Mason, 2007). Recently, and even at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution that started in Great Britain, the rise and even the fall of capitalism paved way for the stratification of races and the deepening of the inequalities, especially in those parts of the world where the capitals have moved along with the mass recruitments of workers. Along with the movement of capitalism where labour is cheap, national policies and laws oversees the movement of people to national borders – paving the way for the creation of laws taming these massive movement and hence changing social structures (Kundnani, 2007). To cite specific examples, the birth of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and their so-called “structural adjustments” as well as their monetary packages in developing Asian countries gave birth to the context and bases of many of foreign policies of a number of European countries today – and this undoubtedly extended socially (Poynting, & Mason, 2007). 3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS/PROBLEMS AND OBJECTIVES (500 WORDS) The research can be divided in four main parts, each parts have subtopic that the paper also seeks to shed light into: A. What is the political aspect of racism? a. What is the political setting in the Britain that led to the rise of racism in the land? b. What is the consciousness of the British people during those times that led to the cultivation of racism? Objectives It is the objective of the topic to show that racism has deep roots in the British social and political psyche. If one is to have deep understanding of the roots of racism, it is wise to look into the how the British people perceived it – was it purely a personal reaction, was it politically induced or a collective reaction towards something foreign. By answering these issues, it will be expedient for us to see if indeed there was a deeper reason for the predisposition of British laws and policies in the direction of racial discrimination. B. Was there an inclination towards racism in the past British laws? a. Was there really a bias in British laws? b. Or was it merely seen as a bias when in fact the problem lies on how these laws were implemented and run other than the legislation? c. What are the factors exerted by the government and the people to lessen the negative impact of racism in the past and current setting? d. Or to some regard, an alternative question would be, was there even considerations in British laws that would point to their inherent protection to the welfare of those that are in Britain other than the British people? Objectives The ultimate goal of the paper is an examination whether racism continues to be inherent in the contemporary societies and if does, in what way does it affect and impact modern Britain. The paper seeks to create a connection between the past and the present policies and how it has progressed along with the effects of dissimilar external factors that helped shaped up modern British society. C. What were the ramifications of these past inclinations to the recent British laws? a. What has racism contributed to present laws? b. How did racism shape present British laws? c. What are the controversies surrounding these past laws? d. What are the actions of the people regarding these? e. And if these atrocities, as shown were corrected by the most recent laws enacted. Objectives After we have seen and identified the presence of racist policies and laws in the British system, there is a need to see if they impact the current situation. Moreover, it is equally compelling to examine the resistance of the citizens towards it. Identification of significant protests and demonstrations on racism has to be made. The complications as a result of the past laws can be best seen as well through the reactions and resistance of the people to the existing conflicts and controversies. D. What are the current standards set by British laws towards eradicating racism? a. What are the most significant changes in the British laws today? b. What are important British laws c. Are these laws implemented or they have remained as toothless tigers? Objectives In the contemporary, racism seems to be a taboo, however, current experience seem to point to a different direction. There were still disturbing and unsettling instances where racism taints the promise of equality and democracy even in the most modern societies today. An example of these is the existence of current laws that, at an examination would point into racial discrimination, effectively clothed with inefficient democratic policies. 4. METHODOLOGY OR METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH AND RESEARCH METHODS (500 WORDS) The research method employed involves largely textual and discourse analysis, as this paper will be dealt with largely through literature research. In social science researches, discourse analysis as been the primary method of analysis as it largely applies to psychology and on post-structuralism. Discourse analysis encompasses a wide spectrum of things from the simple to the very complicated ones, such as the identification of what is “real” and how it becomes part of the exchange of people. The method has been developed to relate, for example, language and communication to each other and to other factors such as social practices and systems of power (Yates, 2004). The methodology is divided into four main categories. The first stage is to look into the synchronicity level or the coexistence of racism in the past and the present – a closer examination at what connects both phenomena in time. Documentary evidence will be collected in order to elucidate on the policies and laws of the British parliament at particular points in its history. To collate it with the aims and objectives of the succeeding parts, it is important that the research focuses on the institutional factors representing that particular stage. The next part of the research is to look at the diachronic pattern of events during those times. An acknowledge research method for this level is the efficient conducting of interviews to the key persons and parties. However, since such would take time to conduct and finish, there is a high reliance on written and printed documents when it comes to the opinion and notions of people who personally experience the inter-and intra-institutional conflicts and issues relating to British policies against racial discrimination. This stage of the research is primarily consist of lengthy discussions of relevant issues and conflicts before breaking them down on what matters supports the objectives in each stage of the research paper. What matters in a paper is to be able to distinguish which belongs to which and to make sure that they answer the specific objective given within. The third stage of the research is primarily focused on the textual analysis on the written documents gathered. I would correlate this to a synthesis of the evidence and a consolidation of relative facts and figures. Textual analysis along with triangulation will result in a thorough comparison of the institutions and its evolution over time. At a different level, this stage in the research aims to clearly identify the different institutions involved, the nature of the laws and policies each institutions have created, the parties and actors involved, the presence of external factors and the influence that they have exerted towards the core actors. Analysis at this level will reveal the basic themes and debates on British policies and the outcomes of these conflicts. In textual analysis, there are three different relationships that you need establish. A concording has to be made and similar related alterations in the textual data. Next level of textual analysis deals with the content or the subject matter of the text itself. Context textual analysis is highly qualitative in nature working on overlapping contents in an issue. This part should be systematic and should be replicable as well. Here, words are identified with their dictionary meanings and apply their fixed meaning throughout the understanding of the whole subject or text. And lastly, textual analysis deals with statistical analysis as well. Statistical analysis may be simple and will revolve largely on counting features found and transforming them mathematically. The last stage of the research method is contextualiation. This last stage will result in the proper delineation and subsequent dissemination of the synthesized of the facts and to which part are they supposed to go into. Also, at this stage of the research the hypothesis answering the objectives of each stage. This level is particularly important from here, one can see the forthcoming and the impending ramifications of the synthesized laws and policies. It is in this level that one can see a broader generalizations and conclusion of the situations involved; without this important level it will be impossible to reach reliable conclusions and generalizations of the matters involved and their relationship to past events. 5. ETHICS AND ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS (500 WORDS) The ethical implications of the matters and issues that revolved around racism are not difficult to distinguish. Racism touches more that just the collective psyche of the ethnic minorities but more importantly, it has serious implications to the personal identity of the persons involved (Poynting, & Mason, 2007). Racism often results to conflicts and struggles between viewpoints and highly incompatible cultural values; these unavoidable struggles may have direct or indirect tension towards identity and value formation (Macey, 2002). At the opposite side of the spectrum, while the negative implications of racism is slowly consuming these minorities, these immigrants and minorities still teach their children on the uniqueness of their culture in order to constantly provide them a sense of belongingness and ultimately, with self-worth worth ( Macey, 2002). An alternative way of looking at the ethical implication is in relevance to the concept of multiculturalism. Identity and multiculturalism policies prompted these cultural minorities especially the Muslims to assert themselves despite the highlighting their difference (Macey, 2002). I hypothesize that the more these minorities feel that there is a need for them to assert, the more they depart from the norms and standards set and therefore, the retaliation of these glaring difference becomes the stirring wheel for the continuance of racism in modern societies (Kundnani, 2007). Another ethical implication of this issue in racism is on racial profiling. After the 9/11 attack in the United States, British raised its guards to possible attacks and racial profiling became part of its precautionary measures (Modood, 2005). Racial profiling, in my opinion, gives dehumanizing message to citizens of UK, that they will be judged based on the colour of their skin and at the same time, it purges and twists the ideals of criminal justice in the name of protecting the sovereign state. It is not surprising that the implications and ramifications of racial profiling rot the very core of the exercise of free society by UK. For one, the prohibition of racial profiling is more of a moral obligation that the mere bases of disallowing it for political assumptions. A race-based criminal system results to the development of dangerous racial stereotypes to the detriment of democracy. Broadly, as much as current legislation would want to eradicate the negative connotations that come with colour, exercise of racial profiling would result to a besmirched criminal law system (Macey, 2002). Lastly, implications on anti-white racism deserve a thorough examination. As discussed in this research, racism does not only have “black” and the other minorities as the victims, but a growing number of racism violence points to the disadvantage of the “whites”. It is can be concluded therefore that there is an equally violent retaliation by the “blacks” putting both races in peril and I must say, unprotected. The laws and policies have remained as toothless tigers that are unable to bring about drastic and revolutionary treatments to classic rules and regulations regarding racial discrimination. Hitting the essential in law-making is without doubt a compelling need nowadays for British laws on racial discrimination. It has become more and more apparent that the past and present laws are have proved to be inefficient hence, massive restructuring it needed to cater to the interest of both sides (Macey, 2002). BIBLIOGRAPHY Dijk, T. Racism and Argumentation: Race Riot Rhetoric in Tabloid Editorials Kundnani, A. From Oldham to Bradford: The Violence of the Violated, 2001. Race and Class 43(2): 105–10. Kundnani, A. The Death of Multiculturalism. 2002. IRR News 1 April. Kundnani, A. The End of Tolerance: Racism in 21st Century Britain, 2007, Pluto Press. Macey, M. Interpreting Islam: Young Muslim Men’s Involvement in Criminal Activity in Bradford. 2002. pp. 19–49 in B. Spalek, (ed.) Islam, Crime and Criminal Justice. Cullompton: Willan Publishing. Modood, T. Multicultural Politics: Racism, Ethnicity, and Muslims in Britain, 2005, USA: University of Minnesota Press. Poynting, S. & Mason, V. The resistible rise of Islamophobia Anti-Muslim racism in the UK and Australia before 11 September 2001. 2007, Journal of Sociology, The Australian Sociological Association. Racism Cuts Both Ways. The British National Party’s Report on Hate Crimes Against White People. Read More