Rationale and aims of the book

White working-class communities are commonly reduced to a negative rump most typically by media commentators, politicians and academics; an undifferentiated block who are welfare-dependent, leading chaotic and dysfunctional lives, and resolutely against social and economic change. Culturally, they are perceived as rooted in nostalgia for an idealised past that never existed, and, politically, they are viewed as unwavering supporters of racist political organisations that emerged onto the national stage in the debate on multiculturalism and immigration. The objectives of this book are to increase the knowledge and understanding of white working-class communities’ perspectives on multiculturalism and change from a range of standpoints. These are from white working-class communities themselves who participated in two projects across four case study sites, critically assessing the representation of white working-class communities and themes associated with multiculturalism in modern cinema and television, which is our most accessible art form, and widening the discussion away from Britain to consider how white working-class perspectives on multiculturalism have been discussed in both Europe and the US. Creating a platform for grassroots perspectives, considering the lens of cinema and television, and looking at the overlaps in politics and practice from an international lens leads to an informed and much more rational debate on white working-class communities and multiculturalism. None of this is reduce white working-class communities to being either racist extremists or paragons of anti-racism. People who identify with these communities may reflect the national opinion on immigration control, which has been the majority opinion since 1964 in Britain irrespective of the state of the economy or who the governing party is.

The white working class need not be demonised or lionised in relation to their views on multiculturalism and immigration. Rather, the imperative is to recognise the need to reassess and provide a more balanced characterisation in general and, more specifically, to dispel a popular impression that the white working class are supporters of extremist political parties.

Creating a counter-narrative is important in a debate on class and its relationship to terms surrounding immigration, such as ‘multiculturalism’, ‘cohesion’ and ‘integration’. These ideas, which have become part of the British government jargon to describe society (‘multiculturalism’) or to ascribe policy solutions (‘cohesion’ and ‘integration’), have become noxious in an increasingly racialised national debate.