We have focused on the very worrying drift towards self-segregation, the necessity of arresting and reversing this process.… The Bradford District has witnessed growing division among its population along race, ethnic, religious and social class lines – and now finds itself in the grip of fear. Sir Herman Ouseley

Introduction

This chapter addresses a fear that there is an unwillingness to integrate among minority ethnic populations. The fear is that this ‘self-segregation’ maintains and exacerbates geographical and social segregation and is a source of potential conflict.

As Chapter Six will show there are no ghettos in Britain, and migration patterns are not ones of retreat or flight but rather of suburbanisation and moves out of cities, which are being experienced irrespective of ethnicity. This migration is resulting in increasing numbers of areas that are ethnically mixed. Nevertheless, the fear of minority self-segregation persists and five aspects of it will be addressed in this chapter.

First, the chapter asks whether there is a trend towards more same-ethnicity friendship groups and discusses what this can tell us about desire for ethnic mixing. Second, we consider housing aspirations of people from different ethnic groups to uncover the extent to which there is unwillingness to mix residentially. Third, we consider social attitudes and particularly whether there is fear of mixing and fear of ethnic difference. Fourth, we tackle the issue of whether school choice is creating ethnic segregation.

The final aspect of the myth of self-segregation that is challenged relates specifically to one minority group, defined by religion rather than race. This is the claim that clusters of Muslim population act as a ‘breeding ground’ for terrorism. As we saw in Chapter One, Muslim terrorism has become one of the defining issues of British politics and social policy in the first decade of the 21st century. In the environment of a Western ‘global war against terrorism’ the claims are made that Muslim communities isolate themselves from the rest of society thereby protecting terrorists who threaten Britain’s social fabric. We assess the extent to which residential segregation is associated with terrorism.

This chapter is not disputing the need to reduce social conflict where it exists, but seeks to challenge the identification of segregation as a cause of conflict, and inward-looking retreat by minorities as a cause of segregation.