[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Aptrgangr

Muslims more British than rest of population, survey finds - Irna

I am anything but surprised, these aforementioned foreigners have any reason to feel comfortable and at home, whilst natives more and more feel they were not at home anymore. The question is how to make them to make a stand against this.

I don't think that you are grasping the underlying matter behind this all.

Citizenship and belonging: What is Britishness? (PDF) (Commission for Racial Equality, November 2005)

An excerpt:

WHO REGARDS THEMSELVES AS BRITISH?

At the most basic level, all British passport holders know they are British citizens. However, not everyone attaches any value significance to being British. In Scotland and Wales – and this was true among both white and ethnic minority participants – there was a much stronger identification with each country than with Britain.

Participant 1: I don’t see why [Scottish] people are so hung up on saying they are British because it’s what we are.
Participant 2: But I don’t want to be British. I want to be Scottish!
Participant 3: I don’t think of myself as British.

Group identification is a fundamental part of people’s own identity. Sharing a common social identity helps people to bind together. It may also lead to tensions between groups if, and when, memberships of different groups are seen as unacceptable or impossible.

Participant 2: I don’t either.
Participant 1: I do. I think of us as part of Britain.
Participant 2: No, but we’re Scottish.
Participant 1: Yeah but we’re British. We’re British. Your passport says you are British.
(White Scottish, Glasgow)

I’ll always say I’m from Scotland. I’ll never say I’m from Britain.
(Black Africans, Glasgow)

I’m Scottish and I’m from Glasgow. I know that the Zambia’s my country and that’s where I am from. I’m African. But people here have made me feel welcome; that’s why I don’t disassociate myself from being Scottish.
(Black Africans, Glasgow)

Participant 1: Scotland, Ireland, Wales are actually proud to be part of their own culture rather than proud of the British culture, whereas England is proud to be part of all of the cultures, or they see themselves as under the umbrella of British culture. We don’t. […]
Participant 2: I don’t see [Britishness] as part of my identity.
(White Welsh, Cardiff)

Participant 1: Welsh people see themselves as Welsh predominantly. My husband, he doesn’t call himself British, he calls himself Welsh.
Participant 2: I’m Welsh.
Participant 3: Yes. I am Welsh first. If somebody ties me down, then I’ll say I’m British. I’m proud to be Welsh, but not so proud to be British. Britishness for me is just a name. End of story.
(White Welsh, Cardiff)

I feel more, rather than being British, more Welsh.
(South Asians, Cardiff)

Participant 1: We see ourselves as being Welsh and not British.
Participant 2: Because even though I was born here, I meet people and they say: ‘Where’re you from?’ and I don’t say Britain. I say I’m from Wales. I don’t even mention Britain! I just say Wales!
Participant 3: We see ourselves as being Welsh, not British.
Participant 4: Yeah, I’m black Welsh, you know, if you’re born in Wales, you’re black, you’re black Welsh.
(Black Caribbeans, Cardiff)

Thus, across all Scottish and Welsh groups, regardless of participants’ ethnic backgrounds, national identification was much stronger than identification with Britain, although those identities were not seen as incompatible or mutually exclusive.

The situation was different in England, where there was a sharp difference in the ways in which white English and ethnic minority participants thought of themselves. Most white English participants saw themselves as English, first and foremost, but also as British. By contrast, most ethnic minority participants (except for black Africans, as discussed below) saw themselves as British, to the exclusion of any identification with England, since they strongly associated England with white English people.

Participant 1: I don’t have as much pride in being British, as I did in being English.
Participant 2: I don’t make such a big difference between English and British. I think I’m English or British, both.
Participant 3: Well, whilst I am proud to be British, I am more proud to be English. Englishness comes first.
(White English, Manchester)

Participant 1: We are British. We are not English. English is white people. British is everyone […]
Participant 2: I feel British because I’m living here from quite a long time and my children are born and brought up here, born and educated here, and my next generation will be in this country. So I feel I am very much a British.
(Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, London)

We are British Asians. We are certainly not English, even if we live in this country.
(Indians, Birmingham)

The first thing that comes to mind when you say English is a white person. You don’t see a black person as English.
(Black Africans and black Caribbeans, London)

Thus, perhaps against expectations, it would seem that ethnic minority participants (except for black Africans) who lived in England were the ones who most strongly identified themselves as British. However, their identification, as with all other social groups, was not exclusively with Britain: it also drew on other ‘memberships’. We now turn to these alternative or complementary sources of social identification.