Ethnic+and+cultural+diversity+in+Britain

toc =Ethnic and cultural diversity in Great Britain=

Both USA and Britain have a lot of ethnic groups as a result of immigration for several hundred years. This has influenced the societies in different ways.


 * United States of America (USA): **

500 years ago only Native American Indians lived in what now is the United States of America. Since then it has been a large immigration and now it is a wide variety of ethnic groups in the USA. The largest group is from Europe, but slaves and their descendants is also a very significant group. In the last 50 years it has been large immigration from Asia and Latin America. A very large part is in fact illegal immigrants from Mexico. The United States is truly a multicultural nation, but the mainstream culture is a still a Western culture. According to the 2000 Census, the ethnic composition of the USA was:


 * Ethnic group || Population || % of total ||
 * White || 176,2 millions || 62,6 ||
 * Spanish Americans || 35,3 millions || 12,6 ||
 * Black || 34,6 millions || 12,3 ||
 * Asian || 10.2 millions || 3,6 ||
 * Indians || 2,9 millions || 1,0 ||
 * Others || 22,2 millions || 7,9 ||


 * Britain: **

Britain has during the last century transformed from a “white” nation to a multicultural nation. Britain has a long history where different European immigrants are assimilated. In about 50 years ago it was a large immigration from the former British colonies such as India. According to the 2001 Census, the ethnic composition of the United Kingdom was:


 * Ethnic group || Population || % of total ||
 * White || 54,2 millions || 92,1 ||
 * Asian || 2,6 millions || 4,4 ||
 * Black || 1,2 millions || 2,0 ||
 * Mixed race || 0,7 millions || 1,2 ||
 * Others || 0,2 millions || 0,4 ||

When we compare the ethnic composition in USA and Britain we can see that the white group is more dominant in Britain. The influences of the other ethnic groups are therefore less in the Britain. Another major difference is the large number of black people in the USA. They didn’t get there freedom before the 1960’s/ 1970’s and this has still a very large impact of the American society. When the immigration started in the USA the immigrants had to take care of themselves and had to fight to survive. This is also today an important part of the American society. If you have success you may be very rich, but a large part of the population is also poor. The gap between rich and poor is not that significant in the UK.

- Wikipedia - Store norske leksikon
 * Sources:**

Frida Sand

The population of England consists by people with different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. This can lead to a multicultural society with many new and different opportunities, but can also be challenging. I think that some of the challenges that England has to face caused by ethnic and cultural diversity are class distinction, integration and that immigrants are moving to the same places and don’t learn the official language in the country. This can make the society parted, which can be an obstacle for the multicultural society. When a large number of people with different culture and ethnic diversity are living together it’s important that the integration is good so no one falls out of the society, and that they’re all taking part in the community. From old times England has had a class distinction, which has made a divide in the society. They had the working class and the upper class. Lower, middle and upper class does still exist in England, but it is not as clearly as it was before. Some of these old traditions are still used. In the Parliament of the United Kingdom there are The Upper House also known as The House of Lords or House of Peers they have a system where from ancient times, dating back to 1295, they have had lords to be elected to join the board of the parliament. Because things have evolved, they have changed some of the old traditions to accommodate the community, but some things are still the way they were before. In 1958 women were also allowed to be lords as well as men. Only citizens of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Commonwealth can sit in The House of Lords. No one less than 21 years, and they have to be natural-born, which means not adopted and with married parents, to be qualified. They often picked the candidates from the best and richest families with higher education. Their background and family had much to say about those who were elected as lords, and there were mostly people from the upper class who were lords. They have had this system for the lords in the parliament for 715 years now, and when they have these old traditions they really want to preserve them. It’s hard to find the balance between keeping the old traditions and customize today’s society while retaining the old traditions. Almost as they still continue to use wigs in court, as they did in the 1600-1700’s. In England there has been a very clearly class distinction between people for a long time, and even though it’s not as big distinction anymore, there are still different classes these days, and many old traditions are still used. One of many examples that clearly show the difference between people living in a small area together is in Watford right outside London, where they have small villages only kilometres away from each other, but there is still a big difference between the people in Oxhey and South Oxhey. During Second World War houses in London got bombed by the Germans. The rich people got their houses rebuilt, but the working class had to move out of town. Some people built their new houses just outside London to start their new lives. There were no stores or shops and things were very quiet around. Those people who had been working class and had move out of London didn’t have much left. Now there is a clear distinction between those who live in Oxhey and South Oxhey. People look at Oxhey as a better and nicer area than the village right beside, South Oxhey, which is a neighbourhood with people who has higher unemployment, cheaper houses and higher rates of crime and youth pregnancies. People in Watford usually look down on people coming from South Oxhey. Some of the problems with the integration in England are because there has been a long tradition of it, due to the long history of British internationalism. Because the Brits have been international through the colonial period, a lot of people from many countries have travelled or been transported to England. England was the largest empire during the empire era, and therefore had control of a large area during the 19th century and in the early 20th century. Because of this, there is a large amount of immigrants from different nationalities. Henceforth immigration problems run deep in British history. But today, there are more and more people who are moving to Britain, and there are many different reasons to why. War and difficulties in the home country, education and family reunification are some of the reasons for the immigration. When people are coming to a new country and don’t know anything about the place, traditions or language, it’s easier to move to a place where there are many other immigrants as well, so they’re not all alone in a new country. I think many immigrants are moving to areas where there are other immigrants as well, so they’re not all by them selves. Probably there will be easier to be accepted, become a part of the community and to be integrated, and not to feel like the only one who is new in town and doesn’t fit in to the society. One of the biggest challenges with the integration is that many immigrants are moving to the same places because of economical reasons and to adapt, is that they speak their own languages and doesn’t take part in the society and learn English. Some areas are like small “Ghettos” where the people are by them selves and not to be integrated in the society around. This can make several smaller and separate communities, where people have their own small circle of friends and they don’t have much contact with others outside the area. It’s a problem that kids doesn’t learn English, and schools with predominantly minority children, because when there is uneven distribution of children from minority background, integration with the rest of the society becomes really difficult in England. There are many examples, and in London there are a place called Brick Lane where the biggest group of immigrants are Indian and Bangladesh. The signs in the street are in both English and Bengali, which is the official language in Bangladesh. In many cases this can cause parallel societies where the different groups of people are creating their own smaller society and don’t have anything to do with people outside, which will make the bigger society parted. This is why it’s important that we’re trying to prevent parallel societies and rather have a multicultural society where different groups reviewed each other. In England there are many people with different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. This is why it’s ever more important to have an integration system that works, and which mixes people so the society won’t get parted. Everybody should learn English and take part in the community. In Britain’s history there has been a class distinction from many years back, and it’s had to find the balance between keeping the traditions and use the ethnic and cultural diversity to rather create a multicultural society. [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
 * Sources:**

Charlotte Cohn