Introduction

Debates on white working-class perspectives on multiculturalism and change resonate in Britain. National themes such as belonging and identity in a country that is being reshaped by immigration have become key political issues. Deindustrialisation, the marginalisation of the white working class, ‘backlash’ against multicultural policies and the emergence of whiteness, class and nationalism are not restricted to Britain. Indeed, research commissioned by the Open Society Foundation on ‘majority communities’ and integration identified common issues across countries in the European Union (EU). This has been further entrenched after the success of many extreme Right and nationalist parties at the 2014 European elections. Across the Atlantic in the US, the white working class has followed a trajectory that is not so different from perspectives closer to home. Comparing the similarities between different places may support a more rounded analysis of the British context, thereby helping to come up with strategies that could lead to an informed debate.

Underlying the discussion is the reality that white working-class views on multiculturalism will be very different in the UK to different countries in Europe and even more so in the US. Variations in terms (white working class may be understood in the US and the UK but does not fit easily into a European context), legislation (citizenship rights by birth as in the US or by application as in the UK) and politics (the long march to power of the Front National in France compared to the recent insurgency of, and popular support for UKIP in the UK and the Sweden Democrats in Sweden, or the model of the nonelectoral group of the Tea Party in the US). The countries also vary considerably in terms of population size, composition and difference, as well as ideology and culture. Initially, it seems that there is little value in making a comparison between the experiences of white working-class communities in the US, Europe and the UK. Nonetheless, on closer inspection, the comparison may not be quite so far-fetched as there are common experiences between countries, including the loss of jobs primarily held by the working class, the demonisation of the working class and their sense that they have lost their identity with their own country, and the ‘backlash’ effect towards immigrants.