Public Attitudes, Political Climate and Inter-Ethnic Relations
From United Kingdom Wiki
Public attitudes are influenced by the political agenda and visa versa, but are also influenced by relationships between different groups, understanding of these different groups and by the media. Attitudes and policies have changed extensively since the July 7 2005 Terrorist attacks in London and the resulting media coverage of subsequent attacks in the UK and in other countries. Although the Labour government still holds power and is in favour of immigration in general, the new Prime Minister, Gordan Brown has different policies and a different agenda regarding immigration compared to Former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Possible ways forward to improve the acceptance of migrants and ethnic minorities as suggested by Shamit Saggar and Joanne Drean, 2001:
1. Public attitudes may currently reflect misinformation and myths circulated by the press. These need to be identified and rebutted in a shared, consistent and coherent way, across government.
2. Negative attitudes tend to be clustered in social groups. These groups need special targeting.
3. ‘Acculturation’ programs like those seen in Holland may help migrant groups avoid harmful prejudice.
4. Government should consider a long term quantitative survey of views on ethnic minorities to see how they change over time.
5. This long-term data gathering could be achieved by ‘bolting on’ to existing surveys, such as the people’s panel and the Citizenship Survey.
Shamit Saggar and Joanne Drean (2001). British public attitudes and ethnic minorities. Cabinet Office: Performance and Innovation Unit. Download
Public Attitudes Towards Immigrants, Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Ethnic Minorities
The Political Climate in the UK regarding Migrants and Ethnic Minorities
