ABSTRACT
More than two million people of non-European descent now live in Britain, and their presence has radically transformed the social and cultural characteristics of most major cities. As even the most casual observer can now hardly fail to be aware, not only is our society now significantly multi-racial, but quite overtly poly-ethnic. Even so, it is only very recently that serious consideration has begun to be given to the implications of this transformation for the social and welfare services. One large obstacle to constructive thought and action has been the limited scope of the models of social inequality used by most social workers, as well as their tutors on CQSW courses. However, it would be wrong to suggest that no attempts at all have been made to promote an understanding of the issues of racism. On the contrary, Racism Awareness Training (RAT) pro-grammes have recently been introduced by a wide range of local authorities.
