An article examined research on racist bullying of children, paying particular attention to evidence from largely white communities and specifically from Wales. There were significant gaps in knowledge, and some tensions between qualitative and quantitative evidence. There was a clear view among relevant professionals that policy with regard to racist bullying was fairly robust at a national level in Wales: but practice in schools was patchy and often quite inadequate.
Source: Jonathan Scourfield and Anita Pilgrim, 'Racist bullying as it affects children in Wales: a scoping study', Contemporary Wales, Volume 20 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Nov
An article examined the concept of 'race hate' that had emerged and flourished in British society in recent years. It discussed a number of inter-related issues that constituted important causal factors in articulations of 'race hate' among sections of the white working class. Many of these issues related to deep-seated structural factors like socio-economic marginalization and perceived challenges to hegemonic white identity.
Source: Diane Frost, 'The "enemy within"? Asylum, racial violence and 'race hate' in Britain today', Twenty-first Century Society, Volume 2 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Nov
The government announced a ten-point action plan to promote cohesion and tackle 'community tensions', as part of its response to a review by the Commission on Integration and Cohesion.
Source: Press release 6 October 2007, Department for Communities and Local Government (020 7944 3000)
Links: DCLG press release | Letter | Guardian report | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Oct
The Housing Corporation published its strategy for promoting community cohesion.
Source: Shared Places: Community cohesion strategy, Housing Corporation (020 7393 2000)
Links: Report | Housing Corporation press release
Date: 2007-Oct
A think-tank report examined the extent of 'extremist' penetration of mosques and other key institutions of the Muslim community. (The reliability of research evidence used in the report was subsequently challenged by a BBC television programme.)
Source: Denis MacEoin, The Hijacking of British Islam: How extremist literature is subverting mosques in the UK, Policy Exchange (020 7340 2650) | The Guardian, <13> December 2007
Links: Report | Policy Exchange press release | MCB press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Oct
The government published guidance which said that all schools in England, from 1 September 2007, would have a duty to promote community cohesion.
Source: Guidance on the Duty to Promote Community Cohesion, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Guidance | DCSF press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Jul
A report examined the informal social interactions between people from different ethnic backgrounds. It said that a new approach was needed in order to promote inter-ethnic interaction.
Source: SHM, Promoting Interaction Between People from Different Ethnic Backgrounds, Commission for Racial Equality (020 7939 0000)
Date: 2007-Jul
An article examined what 'community cohesion' meant to welfare practitioners such as youth workers. Practice was moving away from the language and assumptions of 'anti-racism', as it had been largely understood and operationalized by youth workers on the ground, towards 'critical multi-culturalism'.
Source: Paul Thomas, 'Moving on from "anti-racism"? Understandings of "community cohesion" held by youth workers', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 36 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jul
A new book examined what was meant by community; whether there was a balance between equality, integration, and diversity; and whether the idea of identity undermined community cohesion.
Source: Margaret Wetherell, Michelynn Lafl?che and Robert Berkeley (eds.), Identity, Ethnic Diversity and Community Cohesion, SAGE Publications Ltd (020 7324 8500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Jun
A study examined 'what works' in terms of cohesion policy by investigating policy and practice in six case study areas. The study identified best practice in relation to: how cohesion-related work was organized in a local authority area; and the types of initiatives that were effective in supporting community cohesion.
Source: Ipsos-MORI, 'What Works' in Community Cohesion, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report | Ipsos MORI press release
Date: 2007-Jun
A report said that overcrowding and inter-ethnic competition for regeneration funds built up resentment which led to riots in Birmingham in 2005.
Source: Peter Latchford, Lozells Disturbances, Black Radley Ltd (0845 2260363)
Links: Summary | Regeneration & Renewal report | Birmingham Post report
Date: 2007-May
A report examined the effects of migration on neighbourhood relationships in two large cities (Manchester and London). Poverty could undermine neighbourhood relationships between migrants and British people. Local tensions, sometimes racialized and often targeted at new migrants, were driven by struggles for resources and perceptions of unfairness. Age and gender also seemed to be factors in bringing about tensions in local relations. But many residents ? new and established ? aspired to a sense of community, valued diversity, and shared many of the same concerns about their areas.
Source: Maria Hudson, Joan Phillips, Kathryn Ray and Helen Barnes, Social Cohesion in Diverse Communities, York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Links: Report | JRF Findings | JRF press release
Date: 2007-May
A new book examined the concept of identity, and how its different meanings and interpretations impacted upon community policy.
Source: Margaret Wetherell, Michelynn Lafleche and Robert Berkeley, Identity, Ethnic Diversity and Community Cohesion, SAGE Publications Ltd (020 7324 8500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Apr
A think-tank report examined the reception and integration of new migrant communities, paying particular attention to the tensions arising from their arrival and settlement, key lessons from the response of public authorities, and how they used their responsibility under the race equality duty in this response.
Source: Rachel Pillai, Sarah Kyambi, Keiko Nowacka and Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, The Reception and Integration of New Migrant Communities, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Date: 2007-Apr
The government responded to a report by an all-party group of MPs on anti-semitism. It outlined new work to improve recording and reporting of anti-semitic incidents, and to review and strengthen the prosecution process.
Source: Report of the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism: Government Response, Cm 7059, Department for Communities and Local Government, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | Hansard | DCLG press release | NUS press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Mar
An article proposed a critical framework for assessing the links between immigration, social cohesion, and social capital.
Source: Pauline Hope Cheong, Rosalind Edwards, Harry Goulbourne and John Solomos, 'Immigration, social cohesion and social capital: a critical review', Critical Social Policy, Volume 27 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jan
A paper examined trends in white 'social distance' from black and Asian minorities in Britain between 1983 and 1996. Social distance from ethnic minorities declined in the 1990s compared with the 1980s; it was structured by cohort, with rapid decreases in social distance among generations coming of age after ethnic minority immigration commenced; social distance was related to education levels and social class, with larger declines in social distance for educated and economically secure groups; and the decline in social distance was closely related to the size of the ethnic minority population, now and during respondents? youths, and unrelated to the level of ethnic minority immigration.
Source: Robert Ford, Trends in Social Distance from Ethnic Minorities in Britain 1983-1996: Period, cohort and individual effects, Working Paper 2007-01, Department of Sociology/University of Oxford (01865 86170)
Links: Paper
Date: 2007-Jan
A survey examined the attitudes of Muslims in Britain, and the reasons behind the rapid rise in Islamic fundamentalism among the younger generation. There was a growing religiosity among the younger generation of Muslims, who felt that they had less in common with non-Muslims than did their parents. They exhibited a much stronger preference for Islamic schools and sharia law, and placed a greater stress on asserting their identity publicly - for example, by wearing the hijab.
Source: Munira Mirza, Abi Senthilkumaran and Zein Ja'far, Living Apart Together: British Muslims and the paradox of multiculturalism, Policy Exchange (020 7340 2650)
Links: Report | BLINK report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jan
A report said that British Muslims saw the media as 'exclusionary and discriminatory'. It examined how the media persistently categorized Muslims in narrow terms, and advocated a freer and fairer media that included marginal and minority voices.
Source: Saied Ameli, Syed Mohammed Marandi, Sameera Ahmed, Seyfeddin Kara and Arzu Merali, The British Media and Muslim Representation: The ideology of demonisation, Islamic Human Rights Commission (020 8904 4222)
Links: Report | IHRC press release
Date: 2007-Jan
A background paper prepared for the government's mid-term policy review examined trends in crime and social cohesion.
Source: Policy Review: Crime, Justice and Cohesion, Strategy Unit/Cabinet Office (020 7276 1881)
Links: Background paper
Date: 2007-Jan