Changing Places

by Eric Kaufmann, Gareth Harris

A study of the "white British" (or "ethnic English") responses to ethnic change in England, produced and published by Demos, Britain’s leading cross-party think tank.

154 pages, ebook

Published January 1, 2014

About the author

Eric Peter Kaufmann is a Canadian professor of politics at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is a specialist on Orangeism in Northern Ireland, nationalism, political demography and demography of the religious/irreligious.

Reviews

[Eitental · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting investigation of attitudes to diversity and immigration among ethnic English (the UK's ethnic majority). Particularly interesting is the finding that ethnic English who live in homogenous English enclaves within (or on the edges of) multicultural cities are the most likely people to oppose immigration. Also interesting to learn that the UK experiences very little genuine "white flight", as anti-immigration whites are no more likely to move out of diverse cities than those with positive attitudes towards immigration. The central argument is that the pace of change is the driver of xenophobic attitudes, rather than the actual numbers of migrants, and that sustained contact with migrants and minorities tends to soften attitudes. On this basis some sound, rational policy recommendations are made vis-à-vis refugee settlement and the construction of new housing. The recommendations about national identity are a bit woolly, but nonetheless this is a valuable read for people interested in ethnic relations in the UK.