Who doesn't feel British? Divisions over Muslims

Parliamentary Affairs

Volumn 63, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 302-320

  Uberoi, Varun ^a   Modood, Tariq ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 77950190267     PISSN: 00312290     EISSN: 14602482     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/pa/gsp036     Document Type: Article

References (122)

1. VU is an ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the University of Oxford's Department of Politics and International Relations. His work examines the theory and practice of fostering unity among the culturally diverse citizens of modern polities and his forthcoming book, Nation Building Through Multiculturalism, will be published by Palgrave Macmillan. TM is a Director of the Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship and a Professor of Sociology, Politics and Public Policy at the University of Bristol. His most recent book is, as co-editor, Secularism, Religion and Multicultural Citizenship, CUP, 2009. This research is part of the Leverhulme Trust funded Bristol-UCL Programme on Migration and Citizenship and the authors are grateful to our project colleagues Nasar Meer and Clair Dwyer for providing comments on earlier drafts of this article, and Betsy Cooper for the same. A draft was presented at the 'Belonging, Britishness and Alienation Symposium', St Anne's College, University of Oxford, 17-19 June 2009, and the feedback received, in particular from Steve Fenton and Michael Keith, was helpful.
2. L. Colley, Britons, Vintage Books, 1996.
3. K. Paul, Whitewashing Britain, Race and Citizenship in the Post War Era, Cornell University Press, 1997, pp. 16-17.
4. E. Powell, 20.4.68 in E. Powell, Reflections of a Statesman, The Writings and Speeches of Enoch Powell, Bellew, 1991, p. 375.
5. T. Modood, 'Black, Racial Equality and Asian Identity', New Community, 14, 1988, 397-404.
6. T. Modood, Not Easy Being British, Runnymede Trust and Trentham Books, 1992.
7. Commission on Multi-Ethnic Britain, The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain, Profile Books, 2000.
8. E. McLaughlin and S. Neal, 'Misrepresenting the Multicultural Nation', Policy Studies, 25, 2004, 155-174
9. Commission for Multi-Ethnic Britain, p. 36.
10. Cited in V. Uberoi and S. Saggar, 'Diversity & Extremism' in V. Uberoi, A. Coutts, I. McLean and D. Halpern (eds), Options for a New Britain, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, p. 240.
11. M. Leonard, Britain: Renewing Our Identity, Demos, 1997.
12. G. Brown, Seminar on Britishness, 27 February 2007, p. 2.
13. D. Grieve, 'Multiculturalism-A Conservative Vision of A Free Society', 4 March 2009, p. 6.
14. F. Bechhofer and D. McCrone, 'Talking the Talk, National Identity in England and Scotland', British Social Attitudes 24th Report, Sage, 2008.
15. V. Uberoi and S. Saggar (eds), 'Diversity & Extremism', p. 247.
16. The public and media discourse on Britishness is vast, but Political Quarterly 71, 2000
17. gives a good over view, as does the Fabian Review, 14 January 2006
18. a special edition of Cycnos called 'Britishness, Whence and Whither', 25, 2008.
19. Home Office, Press Release, 'Plans for Citizenship Ceremonies Welcomed', 9 December 2003.
20. Department for Children Schools and Families, Press Release, 25 January 2007.
21. The latter accompanied a report by C. Ajegbo, Curriculum Review, Diversity & Citizenship, Department for Children Schools and Families, 2007, pp. 78-98.
22. Department of Justice, The Governance of Britain, 2007, p. 54.
23. Department of Justice, Developing Our Rights and Our Responsibilities, 2009.
24. E. Gellner, Nations & Nationalism, Blackwell Publishing, 1983, p. 57;
25. A. Smith, National Identity, University of Nevada Press, p. 100.
26. For historical evidence, see L. Colley, Britons, pp. 234-7;
27. I. McLean and A. McMillan, The State of the Union, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 98.
28. D. Grieve, 'Multiculturalism-A Conservative Vision of A Free Society', p. 8.
29. Conservative Party National and International Security Policy Group, Interim Report on National Cohesion, p. 27.
30. As one of us has alluded to elsewhere, there is also rhetoric suggesting a less 'top down' approach to Britishness by the shadow cabinet, but in our interviews with members of the shadow cabinet three out of our four interviewees discussed promoting Britishness through teaching national history thus suggesting that they are keen on using the state to promote Britishness. See V. Uberoi and I. McLean, 'Britishness: A Role for the State?', Political Quarterly, 78 SI, 2007.
31. L. Colley, Britons.
32. T. Nairn, 'Farewell Britannia: Break Up or New Union';
33. E. Hobsbawm, 'Identity Politics and the Left', both appear in New Left Review, I/217, 1996.
34. D. Miller, On Nationality, Oxford University Press, 1995;
35. B. Parekh, 'Being British', Government Opposition, 37, 2002, 301-315
36. D. McRone and F. Bechhofer 'Being British: A Crises of Identity', Political Quarterly, 78, 2007, 251-260
37. D. McGhee, The End of Multiculturalism?, Open University Press, 2008.
38. C. Joppke, 'Immigration and the Identity of Citizenship: the Paradox of Universalism', Citizenship Studies, 12, 2008, 533-546
39. T. Modood, Multiculturalism, Cambridge, Polity, 2007.
40. A. Heath and J. Roberts, 'British Identity, Its Sources and Possible Implications for Civic Attitudes and Behaviour', Department of Justice, 2008.
41. D. McGhee, The End of Multiculturalism, p. 33;
42. T. Abbas, 'British South Asian Muslims: Before and After September 11th', Muslim Britain, Communities Under Pressure, Zed Books, p. 16.
43. A. Sivanandan, 'Britain's Shame: From Multiculturalism to Nativism', 2006. http://www.irr.org.uk/2006/may/ha000024.html.
44. D. McGhee, 'Moving to Our Common Ground-A Critical Examination of Community Cohesion Discourse in Twenty-First Century Britain', Sociological Review, 51 (3), 2003, 377.
45. S. Brighton, 'British Muslims, Multiculturalism and UK Foreign Policy: 'Integration' and 'Cohesion' In and Beyond the State', International Affairs, 83, 2007, p. 11;
46. L. Fekete, 'Anti Muslim Racism and the European Security State', Race & Class, 46, 2004, p. 18.
47. See K. Moore, P. Mason and J. Lewis, 'Images of Islam in the UK, The Representation of British Muslims in the National Print News Media', 2008. http://www.irr.org.uk/pdf/media-muslims.pdf, p. 14 and 34.
48. See T. Modood et al., Ethnic Minorities in Britain, Policy Studies Institute, 1997, pp. 328-331
49. A. Heath and J. Roberts, 'British Identity, Its Sources and Possible Implications for Civic Attitudes and Behaviour', p. 14.
50. Another recent cross-national study by Gallup showed that 77% of Muslim respondents in the UK identify strongly with Britain whereas as only 50% of the British public do. See Gallup, 'The Gallup Coexist Index 2009: A Global Study of Interfaith Relations', p. 19.
51. B. Parekh, A New Politics of Identity, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, p. 56.
52. M. Keating, Nations Against The State, Palgrave Macmillan, 2001.
53. M. Phillips and T. Phillips, Windrush, The Irresistible Rise of Multi-Racial Britain, Harper Collins, p. 12.
54. See, R. Maudling, Memoirs, Sedgwick and Jackson, 1978, p. 158.
55. Home Office, Community Cohesion: A Report of The Independent Review Team, p. 19.
56. The Independent, 9 December 2001.
57. V. Uberoi and T. Modood, 'Muslims & Community Cohesion', forthcoming.
58. D. Blunkett, 'Heslington Lecture, One Nation, Many Faiths-Unity and Diversity in Multi-Faith Britain', 30 October 2003, p. 3. Emphasis added.
59. Kelly and Byrne claim that Britishness is an inclusive identity. It is 'an umbrella under which many different identities can shelter' and many religious groups are then listed as doing so including Muslims, but the next sentence then reads 'There however is a particular issue with a minority of second and third generation Muslims'. L. Byrne and R. Kelly, A Common Place, Fabian Society, 2007, p. 25.
60. T. Phillips, Interview in The Times, 3 April 2007.
61. J. Straw, Cyril Foster Lecture, 26 January 2007, p. 3, emphasis added.
62. J. Straw, Lancashire Telegraph, 6 October 2006.
63. Home Office, Strength in Diversity, Towards a Community Cohesion and Race Equality Strategy, 2004, p. 7.
64. F. Mactaggart, 'Expression of Religious Freedom Is a Core British Belief', 18 December 2003.
65. T. Blair, 'One Nation's Future-Multiculturalism and Integration', 8 December 2006, p. 4.
66. T. Blair, 'One Nation's Future-Multiculturalism and Integration', 8 December 2006, p. 4. Ibid.
67. Ibid.,
68. Ibid., pp. 5-6.
69. M. Gove, Celsius 7/7, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2006, p. 106.
70. In a speech about Britishness, Grieve says that multiculturalism has helped to cause a situation in which the descendents of immigrants 'appear not to have come to terms with the culture of the country in which their family has settled. I have been chilled to discover at meetings with young educated Muslims, the level of alienation from and with it, anger, with the society which has nurtured them . . . '. D. Grieve, 'Britishness-Useful or Redundant', 6 May 2008, p. 5. Something very similar is said in his speech 'Multiculturalism-A Conservative Vision of A Free Society', on p. 5.
71. Conservative Party National and International Security Policy Group, Minutes of the launch of An Unquiet World, Chatham House, 26 July 2007, p. 9.
72. Conservative Party National and International Security Policy Group, An Unquiet World, p. 7.
73. W. Hague, 'Vote for What You Value', the speech is undated, but from the text it was clearly given just before the 2001 General Election and just after the riot in Oldham, p. 6.
74. W. Hague, 'We Will Renew Britain's Civil Society', the speech is undated, but from the text the speech was clearly given just before the 2001 General Election, p. 3.
75. S. Warsi 'Race Equality Speech', undated, p. 2.
76. S. Warsi 'Race Equality Speech', Ibid., emphasis added.
77. D. Cameron, 'Islam and Muslims in the World Today', 5 June 2007, pp. 7-8.
78. Indeed, Heath and Roberts' data suggests that while young Muslims are less likely to say that belong strongly to Britain than both young Christians and young people of no faith, young Muslims are more likely than their contemporaries in these groups to say that they belong fairly strongly to Britain. A. Heath and J. Roberts, 'British Identity, Its Sources and Possible Implications for Civic Attitudes and Behaviour', p. 17.
79. C. Hood, 'Measuring & Managing Public Services Performance', Political Quarterly, forthcoming.
80. R. Levitas, The Inclusive Society, Macmillan, 1997.
81. W. Hague, 'Spring Forum Speech 2001', 4 March 2001.
82. See Boris Johnson's quote on the Policy Exchange website: http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/about/.
83. Interview with David Blunkett, 11 March 2008.
84. Interview with David Blunkett, 11 March 2008. Ibid.
85. Ibid.,
86. Ibid.,
87. Ibid.,
88. Ibid.,
89. Ibid.,
90. Ibid.,
91. Ibid.,
92. Ibid.,
93. Interview with Angela Eagle, 15 October 2007.
94. Interview with Angela Eagle.
95. Interview with Angela Eagle Ibid.
96. Interview with Mike O'Brien, 30 October 2007.
97. Interview with Fiona Mactaggart, 16 October 2007.
98. Interview with Mike O'Brien.
99. Interview with Angela Eagle.
100. Interview with Pauline Neville Jones, 17 October 2007.
101. Interview with Pauline Neville Jones Ibid, 17 October 2007.
102. Ibid.,
103. Interview with Dominic Grieve, 18 September 2007.
104. Interview with Dominic Grieve. Grieve discussed how he came to this view by referring to Muslims who immigrated to Britain in the 1950s and preferred the social conservatism of the time whilst also referring to a younger Muslim who he had met and who had discussed why it was rationale to stone adulterers.
105. Ibid.,
106. This was said by Pauline Neville Jones in a section of the interview that focused on why she came to work on adapting Britishness but is included here because in the next quote that we cite, she says that British society needs to change to encourage more Muslims to join it. Jones thus clearly feels that some elements of British society are unattractive to some Muslims. The elements that she refer to here, the violence, the lawlessness, the drunkenness and the vulgarity, not only seem like the ones that may be unattractive to Muslims, but David Cameron says as much on p. 6 of the speech that we cited earlier.
107. Ibid.,
108. Ibid.,
109. Interview with Paul Goodman, 4 March 2008.
110. Interview with Paul Goodman, Ibid. 4 March 2008.
111. Interview with Damian Green, 18 April 2008.
112. Interview with Paul Goodman.
113. Interview with Paul Goodman Ibid.
114. Ibid.,
115. Interview with Damian Green.
116. Interview with Damian Green Ibid.
117. Ibid.,
118. Ibid.,
119. Ibid.,
120. T. Modood et al., Ethnic Minorities in Britain, p. 329.
121. Benedict Anderson notes that nations have generated 'a deep horizontal comradeship' regardless 'of the actual inequality and exploitation' that prevails in them. B. Anderson, Imagined Communities, Verso, p. 7.
122. B. Parekh, A New Politics of Identity, p. 99.