Race, Immigration and Politics in Britain

Abstract

This article provides a description and interpretation of a series of key issues, debates and questions around immigration and race in Britain between the 1940s and the early 2000s. We highlight these issues and characterize some of the major theoretical models (and concepts) that have been deployed to interpret and explain them. Our primary concern here is with the main policies that helped to construct and frame immigration policies and the key domestic ‘race relations’ policies that were linked to them. We also provide a critique of the ways in which some of the most prominent academics during this period have contributed to the unfolding of these processes, in particular, how their work has been used to frame government thinking and policy formulation and implementation. We hope that our characterization of the main trajectory of policy and academic discourse over the past few decades will provide an opportunity for a more intensive evaluation of particular moments in this trajectory.