Citizenship and Immigration in Post-War Britain
Citizenship and Immigration in Post-War Britain

Author: Randall Hansen

Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 9780199240548

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In this ground-breaking book, the author draws extensively on archival material and theortical advances in the social sciences literature on citizenship and migration. Citizenship and Immigration in Postwar Britain examines the transformation since 1945 of the UK from a homogeneous into a multicultural society. Rejecting a dominant strain of sociological and historical inquiry emphasising state racism, Hansen argues that politicians and civil servants were overall liberal relative to a public, to which it owed its office, and pursued policies that were rational for any liberal democratic politician. He explains the trajectory of British migration and nationality policy - its exceptional liberality until the 1950s, its exceptional restrictiveness after then, and its tortured and seemingly racist definition of citizenship. The combined effect of a 1948 imperial definition of citizenship (adopted independently of immigration) and a primary commitment to migration from the Old Dominions, locked British politicians into a series of policy choices resulting in a migration and nationality regime that was not racist in intention, but was racist in effect. In the context of a liberal elite and an illiberal public, Britain's current restrictive migration policies result not from the faling of its policy-makers but those of its institutions.

Whitewashing Britain
Whitewashing Britain

Author: Kathleen Paul

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2018-09-05

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 1501729330

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Kathleen Paul challenges the usual explanation for the racism of post-war British policy. According to standard historiography, British public opinion forced the Conservative government to introduce legislation stemming the flow of dark-skinned immigrants and thereby altering an expansive nationality policy that had previously allowed all British subjects free entry into the United Kingdom. Paul's extensive archival research shows, however, that the racism of ministers and senior functionaries led rather than followed public opinion. In the late 1940s, the Labour government faced a birthrate perceived to be in decline, massive economic dislocations caused by the war, a huge national debt, severe labor shortages, and the prospective loss of international preeminence. Simultaneously, it subsidized the emigration of Britons to Australia, Canada, and other parts of the Empire, recruited Irish citizens and European refugees to work in Britain, and used regulatory changes to dissuade British subjects of color from coming to the United Kingdom. Paul contends post-war concepts of citizenship were based on a contradiction between the formal definition of who had the right to enter Britain and the informal notion of who was, or could become, really British. Whitewashing Britain extends this analysis to contemporary issues, such as the fierce engagement in the Falklands War and the curtailment of citizenship options for residents of Hong Kong. Paul finds the politics of citizenship in contemporary Britain still haunted by a mixture of imperial, economic, and demographic imperatives.

Citizenship and Belonging
Citizenship and Belonging

Author: James Hampshire

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2005-04-15

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 0230510523

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James Hampshire explores the politics of immigration in postwar Britain and shows how ideas of race, demography and belonging intertwined to shape immigration policy. It is the first book to explain immigration in terms of the politics of demographic governance - how states manage and regulate their populations - and provides a much needed historical context to current debates. In addition, the book develops new perspectives on the ways in which racialized ideas influenced politics and policy-making.

Citizenship and Immigration in Postwar Britain
Citizenship and Immigration in Postwar Britain

Author: Randall Hansen

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2000-06-01

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 0191583014

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In this contentious and ground-breaking study, the author draws on extensive archival research to provide a new account of the transforamtion of the United Kingdom into a multicultural society through an analysis of the evolution of immigration and citizenship policy since 1945. Against the prevailing academic orthodoxy, he argues that British immigration policy was not racist but both rational and liberal. - ;In this ground-breaking book, the author draws extensively on archival material and theortical advances in the social science literature. Citizenship and Immigration in Post-war Britain examines the transformation since 1945 of the UK from a homogeneous into a multicultural society. Rejecting a dominant strain of sociological and historical inquiry emphasizing state racism, Hansen argues that politicians and civil servants were overall liberal relative to the public, to which they owed their office, and that they pursued policies that were rational for any liberal democratic politician. He explains the trajectory of British migration and nationality policy - its exceptional liberality in the 1950s, its restrictiveness after then, and its tortured and seemingly racist definition of citizenship. The combined effect of a 1948 imperial definition of citizenship (adopted independently of immigration), and a primary commitment to migration from the Old Dominions, locked British politicians into a series of policy choices resulting in a migration and nationality regime that was not racist in intention, but was racist in effect. In the context of a liberal elite and an illiberal public, Britain's current restrictive migration policies result not from the faling of its policy-makers but from those of its institutions. -

We're Here Because You Were There
We're Here Because You Were There

Author: Ian Patel

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2021-04-13

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1839760532

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What are the origins of the hostile environment for immigrants in Britain? Chosen as a BBC History Magazine Book of the Year 2021 and shortlisted for the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize 2022 In the wedded stories of migration and the end of empire, Ian Sanjay Patel uncovers a forgotten history of post-war Britain. After the Second World War, what did it mean to be a citizen of the British empire and the post-war Commonwealth of Nations? Post-war migrants coming to Britain were soon renamed immigrants in laws that prevented their entry despite their British nationality. The experiences of migrants and the archival testimony of officials and politicians at home and abroad, retold here, define Britain’s role in the global age of decolonization.

Stress in Post-War Britain, 1945–85
Stress in Post-War Britain, 1945–85

Author: Mark Jackson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-12-05

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 1317318048

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In the years following World War II the health and well-being of the nation was of primary concern to the British government. The essays in this collection examine the relationship between health and stress in post-war Britain through a series of carefully connected case studies.

The British Dream
The British Dream

Author: David Goodhart

Publisher: Atlantic Books

Published: 2013-07-01

Total Pages: 506

ISBN-13: 0857899759

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In The British Dream, David Goodhart tells the story of postwar immigration and charts a course for its future. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with people from all over the country and a wealth of statistical evidence, he paints a striking picture of how Britain has been transformed by immigration and examines the progress of its ethnic minorities—projected to be around 25 per cent of the population by the early 2020s. Britain today is a more open society for minorities than ever before, but it is also a more fragmented one. Goodhart argues that an overzealous multiculturalism has exacerbated this problem by reinforcing difference instead of promoting a common life. The multi-ethnic success of Team GB at the 2012 Olympics and a taste for chicken tikka masala are not, he suggests, sufficient to forge common bonds; Britain needs a political culture of integration. Goodhart concludes that if Britain is to avoid a narrowing of the public realm and sharply segregated cities, as in many parts of the U.S., its politicians and opinion leaders must do two things. Firstly, as advocated by the center right, they need to bring immigration down to more moderate and sustainable levels. Secondly, as advocated by the center left, they need to shape a progressive national story about openness and opportunity, one that captures how people of different traditions are coming together to make the British dream.

German Migrants in Post-War Britain
German Migrants in Post-War Britain

Author: Dr Inge Weber-Newth

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-03-29

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 1135766304

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Both timely and topical, with 2005 marking the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, this unique book examines the little-known and under-researched area of German migration to Britain in the immediate post-war era. Authors Weber-Newth and Steinert analyze the political framework of post-war immigration and immigrant policy, and the complex decision-making processes that led to large-scale labour migration from the continent. They consider: * identity, perception of self and others, stereotypes and prejudice * how migrants dealt with language and intercultural issues * migrants' attitudes towards national socialist and contemporary Germany * migrants' motivation for leaving Germany * migrants' initial experiences and their reception in Britain after the war, as recalled after 50 years in the host country, compared to their original expectations. Based on rich British and German governmental and non-governmental archive sources, contemporary newspaper articles and nearly eighty biographically–oriented interviews with German migrants, this outstanding volume, a must-read for students and scholars in the fields of social history, sociology and migration studies, expertly encompasses political as well as social-historical questions and engages with the social, economic and cultural situation of German immigrants to Britain from a life-historical perspective.

Lovers and Strangers
Lovers and Strangers

Author: Clair Wills

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2017-08-31

Total Pages: 525

ISBN-13: 0141974966

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2018 TLS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017 'Generous and empathetic ... opens up postwar migration in all its richness' Sukhdev Sandhu, Guardian 'Groundbreaking, sophisticated, original, open-minded ... essential reading for anyone who wants to understand not only the transformation of British society after the war but also its character today' Piers Brendon, Literary Review 'Lyrical, full of wise and original observations' David Goodhart, The Times The battered and exhausted Britain of 1945 was desperate for workers - to rebuild, to fill the factories, to make the new NHS work. From all over the world and with many motives, thousands of individuals took the plunge. Most assumed they would spend just three or four years here, sending most of their pay back home, but instead large numbers stayed - and transformed the country. Drawing on an amazing array of unusual and surprising sources, Clair Wills' wonderful new book brings to life the incredible diversity and strangeness of the migrant experience. She introduces us to lovers, scroungers, dancers, homeowners, teachers, drinkers, carers and many more to show the opportunities and excitement as much as the humiliation and poverty that could be part of the new arrivals' experience. Irish, Bengalis, West Indians, Poles, Maltese, Punjabis and Cypriots battled to fit into an often shocked Britain and, to their own surprise, found themselves making permanent homes. As Britain picked itself up again in the 1950s migrants set about changing life in their own image, through music, clothing, food, religion, but also fighting racism and casual and not so casual violence. Lovers and Strangers is an extremely important book, one that is full of enjoyable surprises, giving a voice to a generation who had to deal with the reality of life surrounded by 'white strangers' in their new country.

The Politics of Immigration
The Politics of Immigration

Author: Zig Layton-Henry

Publisher: Blackwell Pub

Published: 1992-01-01

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 9780631167433

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The migration to Britain of people from the New Commonwealth and Pakistan has been an important social and political development. This work describes the major developments in race relations since 1945, from the origins of these migrations in World War II to today's multi-racial society.