White Backlash and the Politics of Multiculturalism [Paperback]

Places the 'backlash' to racial equalities and multiculturalism in an historical context that extends from the 1960s to the present.The murder of Stephen Lawrence led to the widest review of institutional racism seen in the UK. White working-class communities near to the scene of the murder, however, displayed deep hostility to local equalities and multiculturalist practices. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research , this book relates these phenomena to the 'backlash' to multiculturalism internationally evident during the 1990s. It examines them within the context of changes in social class, evolving national political agendas and responses to race inequalities in the UK, the USA and elsewhere from the 1960s to the present.The murder of Stephen Lawrence led to the widest review of institutional racism seen in the UK. White working-class communities near to the scene of the murder, however, displayed deep hostility to local equalities and multiculturalist practices. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research , this book relates these phenomena to the 'backlash' to multiculturalism internationally evident during the 1990s. It examines them within the context of changes in social class, evolving national political agendas and responses to race inequalities in the UK, the USA and elsewhere from the 1960s to the present.The 1993 murder of Stephen Lawrence, an 18-year-old black student, led to the widest review of institutional racism seen in the UK and revealed that nearby white working-class communities displayed deep hostility to multiculturalist practices. This book examines this phenomena within the context of changes in social class, evolving national political agendas and responses to race inequalities in the UK, the United States and elsewhere from the 1960s to the present.1. Introduction; 2. Politics and 'backlash' on the large stage; 3. Greenwich and its racial murders; 4. Narrative, counter-narrative and the boundaries of legitimate discourse; 5. ResidlC!