British multiculturalism peaked in the late 1990s then collapsed after 2001

Evidence

The late 1990s, with a new Labour government in power, was probably the highpoint of British multiculturalism. The public revulsion that had followed the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence by white racists in Eltham, South London, in 1993 culminated in the publication of a report by Sir William Macpherson that identified systematic failings in the police investigation amounting to what was famously described as “institutional racism.” The Blair government then made it mandatory for public institutions proactively to encourage equality rather than just passively to prevent direct discrimination. Macpherson’s work was followed in 2000 by a report from a Runnymede Trust commission under the chairmanship of Lord Bhikhu Parekh that recommended a wholesale revision of the way in which minority interests were reflected in the organization of British society. Finally, in 2001, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook encapsulated the prevailing mood on the libertarian left, which had seen black culture, literature, and art become mainstream, by remarking, “Chicken Tikka Massala is now a true British national dish, not only because it is the most popular, but because it is a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences.” However, very soon 9/11 and the preceding summer’s urban riots in Oldham, Bradford, and Burnley—blamed on a lack of integration among the young Asians who took part—marked the beginning of the shift away from multiculturalism toward “integration” and “community cohesion” as an increasingly nervous nation looked suspiciously at the now alien Muslim population in its midst and wondered about that population’s propensity for millennial violence. — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 155

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: British multicultural celebration and institutional racism co-occurred within a single conjuncture — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 380; Post-imperial Britain’s declining status fostered collective melancholia and scapegoating of minorities — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 969; Multiculturalism dates to the 1960s and remains unfinished — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 868 (+9 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: British multicultural celebration and institutional racism co-occurred within a single conjuncture — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 380; Post-imperial Britain’s declining status fostered collective melancholia and scapegoating of minorities — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 969; Multiculturalism dates to the 1960s and remains unfinished — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 868 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Multiculturalism dates to the 1960s and remains unfinished #complicates (0.82) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 868
• Multiculturalism is unfinished, contested, and predates modernity #complicates (0.80) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 153
• Multicultural diversity in western cities predates the 1980s by centuries #complicates (0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 102
• Multiculturalism was imposed from above and atomized minorities into competing ethnic camps #complicates (0.70) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 157