The recent Runnymede Perspectives report, ‘Who cares about the white working class?’ is a potent antidote to the reactionary agenda on multicultural Britain which has gathered pace in recent times. It succeeds in exploding the key myths surrounding much of the current debate on race and class. It is also a serious attempt to provide fuel for a progressive alternative.
The report includes an examination of how the term ‘the white working class’ has been constructed by some in order to sustain attacks on our multicultural society, as well as a number of thoughtful analyses of issues such as educational underachievement, housing and health. It also exposes the bogus debate which attempts to blame ethnic minorities for the socio economic problems facing white working class people.
Danny Dorling’s article, ‘From housing to health — to whom are the white working class losing out?’ is particularly useful. Amongst a number of important insights on the debate on race and class he refutes the idea that Britain is becoming a more segregated society, and successfully challenges the validity of the notion of so-called ‘White Flight’.
His conclusion neatly sums up why it is so important to defend our multicultural society in the face of any attempt to undermine it. “We live mostly in fear of monsters we have created in our dreams, but those monsters then become very real. It is our ignorance and stupidity, and our ability to be taken for a ride by those who already have most, which we should be frightened of.”