UK Multiculturalism Under Challenge

Post-war Britain absorbed the influx of immigrants from former colonies.As a reaction,Britain adopted multiculturalism to deal with increased number of immigrants.From mid-1960s to late 1970s,UK multiculturalism proved effective for the measures taken by the central and local governments.But following a series of riots and religious incidents in the 1980s,multiculturalism was cast into doubt,which came to a head in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in the first decade of 21st century.Multiculturalism faced unprecedented questioning about its effect and desirability.As a minority group that seems irreconcilable with dominant British society,Muslim community is thrust into the limelight and bears the brunt of scrutiny,discrimination and marginalization.The recent Brexit seems to highlight public concerns about the underlying problems of multiculturalism.The thesis aims to examine the effect of UK multiculturalism in practice,with a focus on the limitations and challenges it faces currently.As an illustration,Muslim experiences will be elaborated.The thesis first analyzes the practice of multicultural policies from its inception to late 20th century and finds that it went through ups and downs.Both central and local governments took multicultural policies to better integrate immigrants and achieved good effect.However,the riots and religious blasphemy affairs since 1980s,a reflection of bad community relations,began to reveal the weakness of multiculturalism.The shift could be best illustrated by British Muslim experiences.It then moves its focus on the deep contradictions and sharp challenges UK multiculturalism is facing in the 21st century.It points out four major limitations of multiculturalism in addressing socioeconomic disparity,social division,rising terrorism and religious exclusion.British society is shrouded in Islamophobic sentiment,which caused further identity confusion and radicalization among young Muslims.Finally,the thesis contends that one should not be absolutely pessimistic to announce the death or total failure of multiculturalism.The prospect of UK multiculturalism remains to be explored.For now,against the backdrop of Brexit,Britain should take the opportunity to reorient multicultural approach and to promote intercultural dialogues with concerted efforts.Other effective initiatives are of vital importance to build a more inclusive and tolerant British society as an active role at the world stage.