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At a practical level, the findings of the research reported in this thesis are discussed in terms of the potential role powerful anti-EU discourses have in accentuating perceptions of incompatibility between British national and European identities, and levels of national identity tlueat. At a theoretical level, the findings are discussed in relation to the utility of including identity content in cross-level social identity investigations, the distinction between intergroup distinctiveness threat and group distinctiveness threat and the structural representations used to symbolise the relations between cross-level identifications.

Two dominant themes can be identified in political and media debates which followed various incidents of urban unrest in Britain during the 1980s. Events in St. Pauls, Bristol, in April 1980, in Toxteth, Liverpool in July 1981, and in the Handsworth district of Birmingham in October 1985, were amongst those which were frequently held to represent a new and troubling development in British cities. In the report which followed his Inquiry into the disturbances in Brixton in April 1981, Lord Scarman recorded the 'horror and incredulity' with which the British public watched violent scenes unfold on television news reports (Scarman, 1981; 1.2). Accompanying the view that urban unrest was anathema in British society was the frequent suggestion that the events in many cities in the early and mid-1980s were essentially 'race riots', clashes between black people and the police. Many of the arguments which explained the disturbances in terms of the 'race' of those involved are critically discussed in this study. The thesis develops a theoretical framework based upon the concept of racialisation. It is argued that a full understanding of racialised discourse must pay attention to both the particular local circumstances in which they appear, and well-established themes which have unfolded over time. An important aspect of the study is the examination of other discourses with which racialised ideas have co-joined, reflecting the way in which notions of 'race' are socially constructed. The final part of the thesis returns to debates of the 1980s and argues that the racialisation of unrest in that decade was closely inter-twined with conservative perspectives which sought to deny socio-economic causes in favour of explanations based upon the supposed cultural or personal proclivities of those involved.

My understanding of 'race' and racism in Britain is that it is discussed variously. Sometimes it steals the headlines as when Stephen Lawrence was murdered (Macpherson 1999). Yet at other times there is a preference not to mention the subject at all. Public discourse on 'race' and racism can be reticent. Why is this? Is 'race' a difficult subject of conversation? The first chapter of this thesis examines the roots of 'race'. In Chapter Two the silence and silencing at a public level but also in everyday interaction becomes the focus. Difficult conversations are considered. The dynamic of reticence and fluency in the discourse of 'race' is explored and conceptualised with reference to the limited material in the literature on the silence and silencing of 'race' discourse. This raises the question as to who is responsible for silence; and, whose interests, if any, might be served. Chapter Three presents a real world enquiry - the Swapping Cultures Initiative in Coventry and Warwickshire; involving over 1,000 children and young people that took place mainly between 2002 and 2004. It reveals that a significant proportion of participants (3 8.1 %) experienced bullying, racism, or being picked on, based on their cultural background, and that these issues are difficult matters for conversation (38%). What is revealed is both the complexity of the participants' identities and the subtle and sophisticated ways in which their cultural backgrounds are managed through conversation. What then does silence mean when the subject is 'race'? Certainly it is nuanced and complex. Chapter Four provides a series of concluding reflections on 'race' and silence, identifying the major factors when seeking to understand and address 'race' issues in their local context. It places centrally the 'discourse of reticence' as a significant, hitherto underestimated, element when considering the prevailing and pervading presence of 'race' and racism.

Using three different methods, this thesis critically explores New Labour policy discourses of community cohesion, alongside and in relation to, the construction and performance of gendered and racialised identities in a northern England town. The research is located at the intersection of feminist theory, critical race studies and critical social policy, and draws upon post structuralist approaches. Through an examination of community cohesion policy texts and in depth interviews with policy actors (used to refer to a diverse group of participants in the policy process), I consider how discourses of community cohesion are negotiated and constructed within the policy making process. I also explore how these policy stories contribute to gendered and racialised constructions of local 'communities'. Drawing upon ethnographic research conducted within a 'multicultural' women's group, I consider how communities and identities are negotiated and lived out in the 'everyday', and -in turn how these community stories both challenge and connect with community cohesion policy stories and policy actors' constructions of communities. My findings suggest that community cohesion can be understood as part of the wider New Labour project, drawing upon the ambiguous concept of 'community' central to the agenda of the 'Third Way'. My analysis of community cohesion policy texts indicate that whilst discourses of community cohesion are presented as a coherent agenda, they are multiple and muddled. The search for a set of common 'British' values alongside the management of diversity relies upon notions of integration, which resonate with attempts at assimilation. Moreover, my findings suggest that whilst gender blind, community cohesion policy discourses are deeply gendered and racialised, contributing to particular constructions of race and gender 'difference'. Nevertheless, it is evident that discourses of community cohesion have become rapidly entrenched within the language and practice of local government and local practitioners, bringing with it a 'new' framework governing race relations in the UK. My analysis of policy actors' interpretations of community cohesion policy points to the complexities facing policy actors engaged in 'making sense' of government policies; alongside and in relation to their personal and professional identifications. My findings suggest that New Labour discourses of 'community cohesion' enable practitioners to adopt a safer form of de-racialised language to talk about issues of race and ethnicity. Yet policy actors are also active in the construction of 'expert' knowledge about 'communities', which at times draw upon 'common sense' ideas. These narratives of 'community' and 'identity' often deny the ambiguous nature of identities and the 'messiness' of 'doing community' within the 'everyday'. Indeed, the findings from my ethnographic research conducted with women from different racial and ethnic positionings emphasise the multiple, complex and contradictory ways in which gendered and racialised identities are performed within and across 'communities'. These 'everyday' stories of 'community' both complicate and disrupt policy actors' narratives of community and the community cohesion policy agenda, whilst at the same time suggesting alternative ways of 'getting along' (see also Amin, 2005).

Historians writing on the subject of race have largely focused on the period after the Second World War: the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush in 1948 has become a defining symbol of Britain’s immigration history. Studies that examine the earlier decades of the twentieth century privilege either imperial or scientific discourses on race. This focus neglects the variety of social and cultural discourses through which the idea of racial difference was disseminated to the British public. This thesis focuses on the idea of race in the 1920s and 1930s and explores how other peoples and places were constructed in the British imagination through three separate but interconnected themes: religion, entertainment and childhood experiences. The thesis has three central arguments: firstly it argues that racial discourses were varied; secondly, that while Britain’s cities offered opportunities for interracial contact, most British people’s experiences of the racial other were limited to the realm of the imagination, nourished by a variety of constructions emanating from churches, schools, entertainment venues and the home; thirdly, that the racial other was constructed in the British imagination as a source of both fear and desire. Religion was one of the dominant forces disseminating ideas about racial difference to the British public in the interwar years. Religious leaders were able to construct an image of other peoples and places through their connection to important annual events such as Empire Day and in their commentaries on current events; their response to the 1919 race riots illustrates how religion, empire and politics intersected on matters of race and national identity. Missionary groups also played an important role in constructing ideas about race, especially to children, through missionary exhibitions. The role of religion in society in the interwar years has been underplayed and yet religious discourses on race that were familiar in the nineteenth century continued well into the twentieth. In the realm of popular entertainment, both blackface and orientalist productions excelled in the art of racial disguise. These productions underline the contradiction at the heart of race discourse between fear and desire; fear of a difference that undermined the notion of white supremacy and thus the strength of Britain’s Empire, and a simultaneous desire to ‘know’ the ‘other’, be that through cultural interactions or physical intimacy. The act of dressing-up as the racial ‘other’ was a crucial means of exploring fantasies of the ‘other’ without transgressing contemporary racial boundaries. Newspaper reviews of popular entertainments constructed a narrative on race that used both positive and negative stereotypes. The history of licensing and censorship in the files of the Lord Chamberlain’s Archive reveals contemporary anxieties about race focusing particularly on miscegenation. People were encouraged to imagine racial difference in a variety of ways and from a young age. The stereotyped images presented to children are open to less nuanced interpretation than those aimed at adults and more than any other were composed of binary oppositions between black and white, civilised and savage, ancient and modern. Evidence from newspapers and the Mass-Observation Archive highlights how children were encouraged to imagine racial difference and the variety and complexity of childhood experiences that defined people’s ideas about race. This thesis builds on an established body of work on the subject of race and uses a variety of sources in order to advance the discussion beyond a narrow focus on empire or scientific debates towards a more comprehensive analysis of the circulation of the idea of race in interwar Britain. It focuses on an era that has received less scholarly attention than the years after 1945 and highlights the variety of discourses on race that permeated the social and cultural life of interwar Britain.

This thesis looks at the role of discrimination and ethnic group identity as explanations of political behaviour of ethnic minorities in Britain. Chapter 2 examines vote choice and partisanship, arguing that a group utility heuristic explains the high level of support for the Labour party among ethnic minorities. I provide individual-level evidence of this heuristic by showing that ethnic minority voters support the Labour party to the extent that they are (i) conscious of the experiences of their ethnic group members with regards to discrimination, and (ii) believe that the Labour party is the best political party to represent their interests. These two attitudes mediate the effects of group-level inequalities. Chapter 3 asks whether Muslims are alienated from mainstream politics by Islamophobia and British military intervention in Muslim countries. I find that perceptions of Islamophobia are linked with greater political alienation, to a greater likelihood of non-electoral participation, but also to a lesser likelihood of voting. Likewise, disapproval of the war in Afghanistan is associated with greater political alienation and a greater likelihood of some types of non-electoral participation. I also provide strong evidence that Muslims in Britain experience more religious discrimination than adherents of other minority religions. Chapter 4 considers the interaction between the extreme right and ethnic minority political attitudes and behaviour. I find evidence that the extreme right British National Party (BNP) increases voting for the Labour party, at the expense of minor parties and abstention. Surprisingly, the BNP effect also benefits the other main parties. Although they do not benefit in increased vote share, Liberal Democrat and Conservative party and leader evaluations are more positive where the BNP stood and performed better in 2010, which I suggest is due to the electoral contrast provided by the BNP. Chapter 5 looks at the mobilisation effect of ethnic minority candidates on ethnic minority voters. I find a positive mobilisation effect of Pakistani and Muslim Labour candidates on Pakistani and Muslim voters, conditional on someone trying to convince the respondent how to vote. I also find a demobilisation effect of Labour Muslim candidates on Sikh voters.