In recent years, there has been an intense public and policy debate about ethnic diversity, community cohesion, and immigration in Britain and other societies worldwide. In addition, there has been a growing preoccupation with the possible dangers to social cohesion represented by growing immigration flows and ethnic diversity. This paper proposes a critical framework for assessing the links between immigration, social cohesion, and social capital. It argues that the concept of social capital is episodic, socially constructed and value-based, depending on the prevailing ideological climate. Considerations of social capital as a public policy tool to achieve social cohesion need to incorporate an appreciation of alternative conceptions of social capital rooted in a textured under-standing of immigrant processes and migration contexts.
The new edition of Race and Racism in Britain builds on the strengths of previous editions of this widely-used text in providing a detailed and critical analysis of race relations and forms of racism in British society today. The book begins by mapping a conceptual framework that seeks to locate the British experience within a broader context which it proceeds to apply in a systematic assessment of trends, developments and political and policy debates since the 1950s.
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