According to the 2013 NatCen British Social Attitudes survey, almost a third of British people – 30% – report that they have some feelings of racial prejudice.

But what does this mean at a time when one in five people identify with an ethnic group other than white British, the number of people identifying as “mixed” has increased by 50% since 2001, 100 languages are spoken across Britain, and there are also high rates of inter-marriage and friendship between people of different races? What do these feelings of prejudice amount to? Should the government be doing more? And how does or doesn’t racism tie in with other economic and structural inequalities in Britain?

All these issues and more were considered at a public debate, which took place at the British Library in London and was hosted by the Guardian in association with the British Academy.



The panel of speakers included:

Hugh Muir Guardian’s diary editor

Guardian’s diary editor Ed Husain Adjunct senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies, Council on Foreign Relations

Adjunct senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies, Council on Foreign Relations Anthony Heath Director, Centre for Social Investigation, Nuffield College, Oxford; Fellow of the British Academy

Director, Centre for Social Investigation, Nuffield College, Oxford; Fellow of the British Academy Penny Young Chief executive, NatCen Social Research

Chief executive, NatCen Social Research Yasmin Alibhai-Brown Journalist and author

The first presentation was from Penny Young, who shared a range of statistics from the British Social Attitudes survey. This annual survey asks 3,000 people (chosen at random and representative of the British population) their opinions about what it’s like to live in Britain and how the country is run. These statistics were first collected in 1983, when the proportion of people questioned who would mind if a close friend or relative married a black person was three in five. Half would have objected if they were marrying an Asian person. These figures have now fallen to around 20%. However, in a new question, 20% said they would also object if this marriage partner was from eastern Europe. When the same question was asked about Muslim marriage partners, 44% would object.

“So where people are prejudiced it’s not about colour of skin but otherness,” Young said.

But this prejudice was not simply confined to “feelings”, racial prejudice had a direct impact on people’s lives. Young also mentioned a five-year-long project, looking at the experiences of people applying for jobs. The key finding was that if a person’s name sounded as if it came from an ethnic minority, they had to send off 16 applications before being invited for interview. If not, they had to submit nine.

Penny Young.

“Whatever people say, clearly racism is alive and well in some areas of life,” Young concluded.

Anthony Heath countered that Britain was probably the least bad country for racism in western Europe. “I’d argue that Britain is one of the best examples, although not perfect, of multicultural society at work,” he said. He presented a comparatively optimistic view of a Britain where racism was declining: “We are all living in a world of social change. The idea we can stop the clock is nonsense. All communities are changing,” he said.

Heath explained that these changes had a generational basis, where people of his age – born in the 1940s and before – tended to be far more patriotic and nationalistic than those who were younger, with what he called an “ethnic conception of the nation”. According to this view, to be truly British, a person had to have British ancestors and be born in Britain. Younger people tended to believe this less.

Heath also mentioned some studies looking at the impact of policies designed to foster multiculturalism. “The policies had no impact whatsoever,” he said. “Just let people get on with it.”

Ed Husain has been an Islamic activist and is now a strong critic of extremism. He considers there is a range of issues around race and religion that urgently need addressing.



“I went to the US to escape multiculturalism,” he said. “But I missed it. I am a product of multiculturalism, I was born here and went through its good and bad phases. My main argument is: mend it, don’t end it.”

Husain went on to look at what he considered the more intractable problems around multiculturalism. Firstly, there was the unaddressed issue of the white working class, who felt they were victims of racism because they were white. Then there was the “ghettoisation” of various parts of northern England and areas of London, such as Whitechapel. What Husain called “anti-Muslim sentiment” was rife, with individuals turning to organisations such as the English Defence League and Britain First. There was the centrality of the pub as a social space which many Muslims were reluctant to attend. Then there was gay marriage which was considered necessarily progressive, so if a person was not a supporter they had to be an extremist.

“I don’t share the optimism,” he said. “Some things have got better but many have got worse.”

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown felt that, in terms of personal interaction, things were going well. But while people might experience love and sex with “the other” or enjoy their food, that was not enough. “At what point do the barriers come up?” she asked. There is now shame attached to the word “racism”, she continued, but the greatest scandal is to name and shame racism and racists – a naming that is almost worse than racism itself.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.

She considered that the government was now indifferent, or worse, to the situation of black people. UKIP had been given a “magic carpet”, and much of the blame for that, she considered, should be put on the media. She also pointed to the decline in solidarity between different groups of people of colour. “We black people have to look at where we are responsible, not just white people,” she said. “We cannot carry on ignoring what is going on within our families and communities. Why did we, anti-racists, give up the struggle? We need to find a way of reawakening resistance because without resistance the bad things will get worse.”

The panel then came together to discuss – in a sometimes heated manner – various topics arising from their presentations. To what extent, for instance, could the media be blamed for a rise in racism? Heath mentioned a study he had carried out looking at attitudes to immigration. The actual number of immigrants had no correlation with levels of racism; what was significant was the number of media stories about immigrants.

Young pointed out that the people with the least education and resources were those who were most concerned about immigration. So what about the “white working class”? Does such a group genuinely exist? Heath stressed that there were high numbers of people of mixed heritage in the working class, with which Alibhai-Brown strongly agreed, saying that the idea of white working class anxiety had been created by “middle class people with an agenda”. Husain disagreed, pointing out that some places did have “white flight” from the inner cities to the suburbs, that pubs were being closed down and turned into mosques, that there had not been integration. Heath countered that there was also “black flight” from the deprived inner cities.

Then there was the much-touted Olympic effect. Was the success of the Olympics a real measure of cultural diversity and acceptance, or a very particular blip that was ultimately meaningless? The panel was sceptical. “It was just a show,” said Alibhai-Brown, citing the increase in racism she had personally experienced since 2012. She added: “I am very disillusioned with the Olympic effect.”

An audience member asks the panel a question at the Guardian/British Academy debate on racism in Britain. Photograph: Sam Friedrich

Members of the audience wondered what the role of government should be in tackling racism and other social and economic inequalities. Most of the panel agreed that they should be doing so and generally weren’t. Although there had been cabinet members from different ethnic minorities, this had not necessarily had an impact on levels of prejudice. And while there had been anti-racist legislation in the past, this was no longer a priority.

Another question was whether the barrier for what was considered racist was now much lower than it had been – something that could not be gleaned from statistics. However, a different audience member pointed out that there had been an increase in race and religious hate crimes 2013-14 – particularly in attacks connected to religious hatred.

So is there cause for optimism or pessimism in Britain’s multicultural society? The panel – and the audience – had very mixed feelings. As Hugh Muir mentioned, referring to the philosophy behind his Guardian column Hideously diverse Britain “we can marvel at how we live in harmony most of the time”.

Credits

This content has been sponsored by the British Academy (whose brand it displays). All content is editorially independent. Contact David Mills (david.mills@theguardian.com). For information visit:theguardian.com/sponsored-content