Migration

• What is multiculturalism?

  The presence of several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society
• what is an absolutist?

  when someone believes there is a clear right and wrong view e.g. Enoch Powell expressing his hatred of the immigration into the UK in the ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech
• what is a relativist?

  when someone believes that right and wrong is relative to the situation e.g. Pope Francis ‘it is very important, because my religious life became richer with his (other religions) explanations
• what did the expansion of the EU see?

  rise of immigration into the UK - established the free movement of workers
• immigrants brought with them their..?

  own languages, cultures and religions, some assumed they would adopt the language, dress and religion of the uk however many retained their own cultural identity
• through the 60s and 70s…?

  the need to recognise the cultural identity of minority groups became apparent, and by the 80s, there was a general recognition of ‘multiculturalism’
• what did some see multiculturalism as?

  a threat to core national values and traditions and destructive to national identity
• what do some argue that multiculturalism leads to?

  a lack of social cohesion because there is no agreed scheme of though with which everyone agrees
• jewish communities had been well established for many years without threatening national identity BUT…?

  the influx of Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims after the war made multiculturalism more visible
• however, many supported multiculturalism and believed that…?

  the culture of each group in a multicultural society should be respected, celebrated and understood in terms of their origins. Multiculturalism was seen as a way to promote tolerance and equality, there should be mutual engagement and dialogue
• 1948 - the wind rush generation…

  In the aftermath of ww2, new transport systems, the nhs and more needed workers so people from all over the commonwealth came to the uk to fill the labour shortage
• 1956 - the Hungarian revolution…

  the end of ww2 brought huge political changes in eastern and central Europe, soviet takeover in Hungary so thousands of political refugees fled to the west
• 1958-1971 - racial tensions erupted, Enoch Powell‘s ‘Rivers of blood’ speech said…?

  it’s like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up is own funeral pyre’
• 1992 - EU expansion…

  all EU citizens = equal rights, freedom to live in any member of state they chose - thousands of EU citizens came to live and work in Britain
• currently…?

  the current government plans to end the free movement of EU citizens to the uk once the brexit transition period ends
• diversity of faiths in Britain today?

  as of 2011:

  Christianity - 59% (down from 72% in 2001)

  No religion - 25% (up from 10%)
• what does European law - universal declaration of human rights say?

  ‘everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion’