Ethnicity and Englishness

In an age of globalisation, the most pressing concerns are with matters of identity, personal and collective. This book explores the culture of nationality, groups and religions through the inner lives of second generation immigrants in England.

The young people studied reveal surprising and sophisticated as well as complex attitudes. They reveal the contradictions, the opportunities and the dangers of their collective identities, and reveal how they are able to make use for good or ill their position in society. What they say relates closely to the experiences of any identifiable group.

The book also relates the experience of one community to the development of prejudice and the way in which people form their sense of self. The notions of nationality and nationalism, of tribal and religious loyalty, are all covered. The book does not just describe, or give a voice to minorities, but analyses some of the reasons for the suspicions of groups for each other, for the development of prejudice, as well as suggesting the ways in which to deal with it.