IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/28676.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

One nation under a groove? Identity and multiculturalism in Britain

Author

Listed:
  • Georgiadis, Andreas
  • Manning, Alan

Abstract

There is a lot of evidence that identity matters for behavior. There is a widespread belief that societies will function better if they manage to establish a common sense of identity among the population. And there are also contemporary fears that this common identity is threatened in several countries. In this paper we investigate the correlates of various measures of identity in the UK, a country currently greatly concerned about a perceived failure to build a common identity from a collection of diverse cultures. We find that the alleged failure to establish a British identity among ethnic minorities is exaggerated – for most their ethnicity and religion seem no barrier to a British identity. But there is a segment of the white population that clearly feels neglected and alienated, and are hostile to the multicultural agenda.

Suggested Citation

  • Georgiadis, Andreas & Manning, Alan, 2009. "One nation under a groove? Identity and multiculturalism in Britain," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28676, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:28676
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/28676/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Angrist, Joshua & Chin, Aimee & Godoy, Ricardo, 2008. "Is Spanish-only schooling responsible for the Puerto Rican language gap?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1-2), pages 105-128, February.
    2. William Easterly & Ross Levine, 1997. "Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1203-1250.
    3. George A. Akerlof & Rachel E. Kranton, 2000. "Economics and Identity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 715-753.
    4. Alessandra Fogli & Raquel Fernandez, 2009. "Culture: An Empirical Investigation of Beliefs, Work, and Fertility," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 146-177, January.
    5. Alberto Alesina & Reza Baqir & William Easterly, 1999. "Public Goods and Ethnic Divisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(4), pages 1243-1284.
    6. Constant, Amelie F. & Gataullina, Liliya & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2009. "Ethnosizing immigrants," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 274-287, March.
    7. David Austen-Smith & Ronald G. Fryer, 2005. "An Economic Analysis of 'Acting White'," Discussion Papers 1399, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
    8. Alberto Bisin & Eleonora Patacchini & Thierry Verdier & Yves Zenou, 2008. "Are Muslim Immigrants Different in Terms of Cultural Integration?," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 6(2-3), pages 445-456, 04-05.
    9. Bénédicte Vidaillet & V. d'Estaintot & P. Abécassis, 2005. "Introduction," Post-Print hal-00287137, HAL.
    10. Georgiadis, Andreas & Manning, Alan, 2009. "Theory of values," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28613, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Manning, Alan & Roy, Sanchari, 2007. "Culture clash or culture club? The identity and attitudes of immigrants in Britain," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 19729, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Oriol Aspachs-Bracons & Irma Clots-Figueras & Joan Costa-Font & Paolo Masella, 2008. "Compulsory Language Educational Policies and Identity Formation," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 6(2-3), pages 434-444, 04-05.
    13. Shayo, Moses, 2009. "A Model of Social Identity with an Application to Political Economy: Nation, Class, and Redistribution," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 103(2), pages 147-174, May.
    14. David Austen-Smith & Roland G. Fryer, 2005. "An Economic Analysis of "Acting White"," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 551-583.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kenneth Harttgen & Matthias Opfinger, 2014. "National Identity and Religious Diversity," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(3), pages 346-367, August.
    2. Paolo Masella, 2013. "National identity and ethnic diversity," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(2), pages 437-454, April.
    3. Kohler, Pierre, 2012. "Three essays on the economic and cultural integration of migrants in Switzerland: putting into perspective the influence of economic discrimination and of host society culture," MPRA Paper 38129, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Georgiadis, Andreas & Manning, Alan, 2009. "Theory of values," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28613, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Pierre Kohler, 2012. "Economic Discrimination and Cultural Differences as Barriers to Migrant Integration: Is Reverse Causality Symmetric?," IHEID Working Papers 07-2012, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
    6. Pierre Kohler, 2012. "Economic Discrimination and Cultural Differences as Barriers to Migrant Integration: Is Reverse Causality Symmetric?," IHEID Working Papers 07-2012, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Georgiadis, Andreas & Manning, Alan, 2013. "One nation under a groove? Understanding national identity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 166-185.
    2. Alberto Bisin & Thierry Verdier, 2010. "The Economics of Cultural Transmission and Socialization," Post-Print halshs-00754788, HAL.
    3. Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2008. "Measuring Ethnic Identity and its Impact on Economic Behavior," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 6(2-3), pages 424-433, 04-05.
    4. Mariko Nakagawa & Yasuhiro Sato & Kazuhiro Yamamoto, 2019. "Segregation and Public Spending under Social Identification," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1132, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    5. Andreas Georgiadis & Alan Manning, 2009. "Theory of Values," CEP Discussion Papers dp0943, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    6. Kenneth Harttgen & Matthias Opfinger, 2014. "National Identity and Religious Diversity," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(3), pages 346-367, August.
    7. Pritha Dev & Blessing U. Mberu & Roland Pongou, 2016. "Ethnic Inequality: Theory and Evidence from Formal Education in Nigeria," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(4), pages 603-660.
    8. Gordon B Dahl & Christina Felfe & Paul Frijters & Helmut Rainer, 2022. "Caught between Cultures: Unintended Consequences of Improving Opportunity for Immigrant Girls," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(5), pages 2491-2528.
    9. Bisin, Alberto & Patacchini, Eleonora & Verdier, Thierry & Zenou, Yves, 2016. "Bend it like Beckham: Ethnic identity and integration," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 146-164.
    10. Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2009. "Work and money: payoffs by ethnic identity and gender," Research in Labor Economics, in: Ethnicity and Labor Market Outcomes, pages 3-30, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    11. Francesco Flaviano Russo, 2024. "Cultural assimilation and segregation in heterogeneous societies," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(3), pages 1-36, September.
    12. Claire Adida & David Laitin & Marie-Anne Valfort, 2014. "Muslims in France: identifying a discriminatory equilibrium," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(4), pages 1039-1086, October.
    13. Joan Costa-Font & Frank Cowell, 2015. "Social Identity And Redistributive Preferences: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 357-374, April.
    14. Dev, Pritha & Mberu, Blessing & Pongou, Roland, 2013. "Communitarianism, Oppositional Cultures, and Human Capital Contagion: Theory and Evidence from Formal versus Koranic Education," MPRA Paper 46234, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 15 Apr 2013.
    15. Arun Advani & Bryony Reich, 2015. "Melting pot or salad bowl: the formation of heterogeneous communities," IFS Working Papers W15/30, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    16. Carillo, Maria Rosaria & Lombardo, Vincenzo & Venittelli, Tiziana, 2021. "Identity and Labor Market Outcomes of Immigrants," GLO Discussion Paper Series 749, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    17. Alexander Hamilton & John Hudson, 2014. "Bribery and identification: evidence from Sudan," Department of Economics Working Papers 21/14, University of Bath, Department of Economics.
    18. Verdier, Thierry & Zenou, Yves, 2018. "Cultural leader and the dynamics of assimilation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 374-414.
    19. Cassan, Guilhem & Vandewalle, Lore, 2021. "Identities and public policies: Unexpected effects of political reservations for women in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    20. Gradstein, Mark & Justman, Moshe, 2019. "Cultural interaction and economic development: An overview," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 243-251.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Identity; Multiculturalism;

    JEL classification:

    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:28676. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.