Rights, Equality and Social Justice: Key Ideas » The Multi-Ethnic Society, Racism and Racial Harmony

The nature of a multi-ethnic society

An ethnic group is a group of people who share a background, such as a common ancestry, language, culture or traditions. A multi-ethnic society is one where people of many ethnic backgrounds and cultures live together. The UK is a multi-ethnic society. People have been arriving for hundreds of years, but the numbers grew after the Second World War. In 1948 the ship Empire Windrush brought people from the Caribbean who had been invited to help rebuild Britain and fill jobs. In the years that followed, many people also came from countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and others came to escape danger or to work and study.

Key terms:

• Multi-ethnic society: a society where people of many ethnic backgrounds and cultures live together.
• Prejudice: an attitude. Judging a person or group before you know them, usually in a negative way.
• Discrimination: an action. Treating a person or group unfairly because of who they are.
• Racism: prejudice or discrimination against a person because of their race or ethnicity.
• Institutional racism: racism built into the rules, habits or ways of working of an organisation, so that some groups are treated worse even when no single person intends it.
• Racial harmony: people of different races and ethnic groups living together peacefully, with respect and equal treatment.

Benefits and problems

Most of the problems come from how people treat each other, not from the mix of cultures itself.

Prejudice, discrimination and racism

These three words are linked but are not the same. Prejudice is what someone thinks or feels. Discrimination is what someone does. For example, believing that people from a certain group are lazy is prejudice. Refusing to give someone a job because of their ethnicity is discrimination. Racism is prejudice or discrimination because of race or ethnicity. It can come from individuals, for example insults or attacks, and it can also be institutional. In 1999 an official report into the police investigation of the murder of Stephen Lawrence (killed in a racist attack in 1993) said that the police force involved was institutionally racist. This led to major changes in how the police and other bodies work.

How can prejudice, discrimination and racism be overcome?

• Laws: the Equality Act 2010 (recalled from the lesson Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women) makes it illegal to treat people unfairly because of race, which is one of its protected characteristics. Earlier Race Relations Acts began this work in the 1960s and 1970s. Laws on hate crime mean that courts can give harsher sentences when a crime is motivated by hostility to race.
• Education: teaching about different cultures, history and the harm caused by racism helps to remove fear and false ideas.
• Getting to know one another: mixing at work, in sport, in clubs and neighbourhoods breaks down stereotypes, because it is harder to be prejudiced against people you know.
• Positive role models: successful people from every background show that stereotypes are false and inspire others.
• Campaigns: groups such as Show Racism the Red Card, set up in 1996, use football players to speak out, educate young people and challenge racism.

Responsibilities in a multi-ethnic society

Promoting racial harmony

Racial harmony is promoted when laws protect everyone, when workplaces, education and the media treat all groups fairly, and when people take part in shared activities. Examples include:

• South Africa: under apartheid, a system of laws that separated people by race, black South Africans were treated as inferior. Apartheid ended, and in 1994 South Africa held its first election open to all races. Nelson Mandela became president and called for a 'rainbow nation', where people of every colour live together in peace.
• Local examples: a community festival that celebrates many cultures, a mixed football team, or a neighbourhood project where people from different backgrounds work together.

Religious and non-religious attitudes

Many religions teach that all human beings are equal in worth, for example because they were created by God or share the same spiritual nature, so racism is wrong. Religious communities often welcome people of all races, and religious groups have campaigned against racism. Believers within a religion may differ on how best to act, such as how far to take part in campaigns or how to deal with those who hold racist views. Sadly, racism can still happen inside religious communities, which shows that teaching and practice are not always the same. Religious leaders usually respond by speaking out against it.

Humanists do not believe in God. They say there is only one human race. Science gives no basis for ranking 'races', because people everywhere are far more alike than different. They argue that racism is both irrational (it has no evidence behind it) and unjust (it harms people for something they cannot change), and they support equal rights for all.

Common mistakes

Exam-style question

(a) Identify three benefits of a multi-ethnic society. [3 marks] (Paper 1, AO1)

(b) Outline two ways in which racism can be overcome. [4 marks] (Paper 1, AO1)

(c) Explain why some non-religious people believe that racism is wrong. [6 marks] (Paper 1, AO1 and AO2)

(d) 'Laws are the best way to bring about racial harmony.' Evaluate this statement, showing you have considered different points of view. In your answer you should refer to at least one religion. [12 marks] (Paper 1, AO1 and AO2)