Immigration and ethnic relations in Britain and America 1

Attempts to compare and contrast the patterns of race and ethnic relations in the United States and Britain face a number of problems. Despite some shared characteristics, like language and certain traditions of democratic participation and political culture, the two societies are in many important respects quite different. ² It is not simply an issue of relative size, although on this dimension comparisons between the European Union and the United States make more sense, but rather a question of contrasting conceptions of the nature of citizenship and national identity. ³ These in turn affect the social response and political discourse concerning racial and ethnic diversity on either side of the Atlantic. ⁴