'Belfast - An Inclusive Society?' Exploring Issues
of Racism and Diversity, Spring Conference on the Irish Association,
March 2005
An Examination of the Nature and Causes of
Racism in Northern Ireland
It was only a few years ago that there was a
general reluctance to accept that racism was a problem in Northern
Ireland (Mann-Kler, 1997; Hainsworth, 1998). There were so few minority
ethnic people living in the region, so it was argued, that it was
of little relevance here. Moreover, and certainly until the paramilitary
ceasefires of the mid-1990s, it was felt by many that the political
conflict tended to dominate people’s hearts and minds leaving
little space for them to be concerned with anything else.
Fortunately, things have now moved on. Following
years of campaigning by minority ethnic communities themselves within
Northern Ireland, racism is now recognised as an issue of concern.
This has been reflected politically with the introduction of the
Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 that finally made racial
discrimination illegal in the region and also Section 75 of the
Northern Ireland Act 1998 that has, among other things, placed a
statutory duty on all public authorities to promote equality of
opportunity and good relations between people on the basis of ‘race’.
In addition, the dramatic increase in the number of reported incidents
of racist harassment (Jarman and Monaghan, 2003), and the media
coverage of these, has also increased public awareness of and concern
about racism in the region.
However, while this increasing recognition of
racism as a problem is to be welcomed, it is not without its own
limitations. In particular, insofar as racism is accepted as an
issue in Northern Ireland it has tended to be restricted to a concern
with incidents of racist harassment. This, in turn, has allowed
racism to be categorised as a problem restricted to a particular
sub-group of the population living in a small number of areas.
This paper suggests that we need to broaden our
understanding of racism. Rather than just understanding it in terms
of incidents of racist harassment we also need to see it as a more
general aspect of our everyday attitudes and collective identities
in Northern Ireland which, in turn, can form the basis from which
a range of often unconscious processes and practices emerge that
isolate and exclude members of particular minority ethnic groups.
In this sense the paper will demonstrate that racism is to be found
in all sections of the population and is also a key aspect of how
the two main political traditions here – Unionists and Nationalists
respectively – have historically tended to construct themselves.
The paper will begin by looking in a little more
detail at what some of the research evidence actually tells us about
racist harassment in Northern Ireland before then looking more broadly
at levels of racial prejudice within the population and how these
relate to the two main political traditions here. The paper will
conclude by considering briefly some of the implications of these
findings for understanding some of the causes of racism and also
for how to begin tackling these effectively.
In looking specifically at incidents of racist
harassment in Northern Ireland there is certainly growing evidence
to suggest that it tends to be associated with a particular sub-group
of the population. As Jarman and Monaghan (2003) found from an analysis
of the details of incidents reported to the police, the profile
of the typical perpetrators of racist harassment tend to be groups
of young males. This also confirms the findings of our own research
in Northern Ireland conducted a few years before this (Connolly
and Keenan, 2001).
Moreover, and in relation to our own research,
it was also found that there was actually only a very weak relationship
between people’s levels of racial prejudice and their tendency
to engage in racist harassment (Connolly and Keenan, 2000a: pp.
39-40). What this seems to suggest is that the causes of racist
harassment are as much to do with dominant forms of masculinity
and aggressive and competitive sub-cultures found among young males
as it is to do with ‘race’. There is thus something
about the nature of some male sub-cultures that tends to encourage
the identification and victimisation of certain groups.
The key implication of this, as was concluded
in the study, was that racist harassment is unlikely to be addressed
simply by efforts to reduce levels of racial prejudice (Connolly
and Keenan, 2001). While such efforts are clearly important in and
of themselves, as will be argued below, it would seem that racist
harassment will only be properly tackled once we also begin to engage
with and effectively address the violent and aggressive forms of
behaviour that tend to be found among particular groups of young
males.
As already stated, racist harassment is only one
of the ways in which racism manifests itself in Northern Ireland.
If we consider racial prejudice then a very different picture emerges.
Rather than it being something that can be seen as being largely
associated with certain sub-groups, racial prejudice would appear
to be more randomly spread across the population.
This can be illustrated by the findings of a large-scale
attitudinal survey of the population in Northern Ireland that we
conducted a few years ago (Connolly and Keenan, 2000a). A sample
of 1,267 people drawn randomly from across the region were interviewed
as part of the survey. One of the things they were asked was whether
they would be willing to accept people from particular minority
ethnic groups as ‘a citizen of Northern Ireland’ or
as ‘a local resident’ or ‘a close friend’.
The purpose of the exercise was to gain some appreciation of where
people tended to ‘draw the line’ in terms of how far
they would be willing to mix with members of other minority ethnic
groups.
The key findings from the survey are presented
in Table 1 that shows the percentages of respondents who stated
that they would be unwilling to accept a member of a particular
minority ethnic group in various scenarios. As can be seen, for
example, a quarter of people in Northern Ireland (25%) would not
want a Chinese person as a resident in their local area, whereas
a third (34%) would not want them as a work colleague and over half
(53%) would not want them as a close member of their family, by
way of marriage.
| Table 1: Percentage of respondents
in Northern Ireland stating that they would be unwilling
to accept members of other ethnic groups* |
| “I
would not willingly accept the following person as
… |
Percentage of respondents agreeing
with the statements in relation to the following ethnic
groups |
| African Caribbean |
Chinese |
Asian |
Irish Traveller |
Protestant/
Catholic** |
| …
a citizen of Northern Ireland” |
18 |
16 |
20 |
45 |
10 |
| …
a resident in my local area” |
26 |
25 |
27 |
57 |
15 |
| …
a colleague at my work” |
35 |
34 |
36 |
66 |
19 |
| …
a close friend of mine” |
42 |
41 |
43 |
70 |
26 |
| …
a close member of my family” |
54 |
53 |
54 |
77 |
39 |
| *Source:
Connolly and Keenan (2000a: p. 18).
**‘Protestant’
if the respondent identified themselves as Catholic and
‘Catholic’ if the respondent identified themselves as Protestant. |
Three key points are worth drawing out from
these findings. The first is simply that these do not appear to
be the attitudes of a society that is largely unconcerned with
issues of ‘race’. For minority ethnic people it is
certainly worrying to know that, in any workplace, one in every
three of your colleagues are likely to not want you there because
of your ‘race’.
The second point to note is that while attitudes
towards African Caribbean, Chinese and Asian people seem to be
very similar, attitudes towards Irish Travellers appear to be
considerably more negative. As can be seen, around two thirds
of people (66%) would not want an Irish Traveller as a work colleague
and over three quarters (77%) would not want them as a close member
of their family. Such findings tend to confirm the extremely poor
status and high levels of exclusion experienced by Irish Travellers
in Northern Ireland (Noonan, 1994; McVeigh, 1998; Molloy, 1998).
The final point to note is that people in Northern
Ireland seem to be far more willing to accept someone from the
other main religious tradition to themselves (i.e. Protestants
or Catholics) than to accept someone from a minority ethnic community.
Of course it would be wrong simply to conclude from this that
people are more racist than they are sectarian. The two are very
different phenomena and thus we are not comparing like with like.
However, what these findings do clearly demonstrate is that racial
prejudice is a significant element of people’s attitudes
in Northern Ireland and clearly not something that has been overshadowed
by the political divisions here.
Who is More Likely to be Racially Prejudiced?
In beginning to seek out possible ‘causes’
for these levels of racial prejudice, an obvious starting point
as with the study of racist harassment is to examine if high levels
of prejudice tend to be associated with certain groups within
the population. This is precisely what we did in our attitudinal
survey where we devised an overall measure of racial prejudice
and used it to ascertain whether certain groups tended to be more
prejudiced than others (Connolly and Keenan, 2000a).
The results of the analysis – what is
known as a linear multiple regression – are presented in
Table 2. The statistical details of the analysis need not concern
us here. Rather, there are two key points to draw out from this.
The first is that there is some relationship (although very weak)
between a person’s age, religion and area of residence and
levels of sectarian prejudice. Thus, older people tend to be slightly
more prejudiced on average then younger people, Protestants tend
to be slightly more prejudiced on average than Catholics and those
in rural areas tend again to be slightly more prejudiced than
those living in urban areas. Interestingly, hardly any notable
relationship tended to exist between a person’s gender or
social class background and levels of racial prejudice.
The second – and actually most important
– point to draw out is that all of these factors are very
poor predictors of a person’s racial prejudice. What this
analysis shows is that even when we put all these factors together
(i.e. when we know a person’s gender, their age, their religion,
where they live and their social class background) this can only
predict their level of racial prejudice with an accuracy of just
11.3% In other words, there is so much variation in levels of
prejudice across the population that it is not possible to draw
any meaningful or reliable conclusions about levels of prejudice
among particular sub-groups. The findings from this analysis therefore
suggest that the highest and lowest levels of prejudice are as
likely to be found among any particular group within Northern
Ireland, however they are defined.
| Table 2: Results of linear multiple regression with racial
prejudice as the dependent variable* |
|
Independent Variable |
B |
s.e. |
t |
Sig. |
|
Constant |
13.922 |
.613 |
22.715 |
<.001 |
| Gender1 |
.483 |
.265 |
1.826 |
.068 |
| Age |
.310 |
.007 |
4.389 |
<.001 |
| Religion2 |
1.948 |
.264 |
7.377 |
<.001 |
| Area (Rural/Urban)3 |
.757 |
.270 |
2.801 |
.005 |
| Social Class4 |
|
|
|
|
| Professional/Managerial |
-1.682 |
.547 |
-3.077 |
.002 |
| Intermediate/Non-Manual |
-1.460 |
.596 |
-2.451 |
.014 |
| Junior Non-Manual |
-.333 |
.548 |
-.608 |
.543 |
| Skilled Manual |
.603 |
.533 |
1.131 |
.259 |
| Semi-Skilled Manual |
-.308 |
.533 |
-.578 |
.563 |
| *Adjusted R2=11.3%; Model fit: F(9,943)=14.427,
p<0.001,
1Dummy coded: females=0, males=1;
2Dummy coded: Catholics=0, Protestants=1; 3Dummy
coded: urban=0, rural=1; 4Dummy coded with unskilled
manual=0. |
The Causes of Racism in Northern Ireland?
So what does all of this tell us about the causes
of racism in Northern Ireland? Perhaps the first point to draw
out from the above is that we need to be clear as to what type
of racism we are trying to explain. We have considered two forms
of racism above – racist harassment and racial prejudice
– and it has been shown that the two are not the same. Infact
there is only a very weak relationship between levels of prejudice
and the tendency for someone to perpetrate racist harassment.
Of the two, it would seem that racist harassment
is a little more amenable to explanation, given that it does tend
to be associated with a particular sub-group of the population,
namely groups of young males. In this sense, and as explained,
some of the root causes of racist harassment tend to lie in the
aggressive and competitive nature of some male sub-cultures which
then tend to lead to the victimisation of certain groups within
the population, including minority ethnic people.
Even here, however, we need to be careful not
to over-generalise. While a tendency exists it is also clear from
Jarman and Monaghan’s (2003) research that not all perpetrators
are young and/or male and/or act in groups. Thus while young male
sub-cultures are a major contributory factor it is not the only
one and further research is required into the reasons underpinning
incidents of racist harassment perpetrated by those who do not
fit this profile of groups of young males.
As for racial prejudice, the findings above
indicate that the picture is far more complex. As shown, the causes
of racial prejudice cannot be reduced to any simple formula. Even
when a range of key factors are taken together, they remain very
poor predictors of levels of racial prejudice in the population.
It is here that much more research is needed into some of the
factors that tend to influence levels of prejudice. Clearly, some
of these factors will be more general in nature in the sense that
they are likely to be as relevant to other regions and societies
as they are to Northern Ireland. These will include the general
ways in which minority ethnic people still tend to be portrayed
in the media in stereotypical ways and constructed in news reports
variously as a problem.
Beyond these general factors, however, a growing
body of research has clearly shown that racism develops in differing
ways from one context to the next and over time (Mac an Ghaill,
1999). In other words, there is a limit to how far we can talk
generally about racism as if it is a universal phenomenon whose
nature and form is constant. Rather, the particular prejudices
that people develop and the specific forms of relationships that
emerge between differing majority and minority ethnic groups tend
to be context-specific. The types of racism found in parts of
Belfast, for example, may well be very different to those found
in Bangor or Belleek. They will certainly be very different to
those found in inner-city London, Dublin or in Los Angeles.
All of this suggests that in our search for
the causes of racial prejudice in Northern Ireland we need to
focus our attention on Northern Ireland itself and the differing
ways in which the nature of organisation of life here may well
help to foster and perpetuate certain forms of racism. This in
turn will require more indepth studies of particular localities
and communities as well as a broader analysis of Northern Irish
society itself and the organisation and social structures that
comprise it.
Racial Prejudice and the Unionist and Nationalist
Traditions in Northern Ireland
At present there remains a lack of these more
contextualised and indepth studies of racism and racial prejudice
in Northern Ireland. However, one recent exploratory study that
I conducted can possibly be seen as one small step in this direction.
In this study I conducted an attitudinal survey of a representative
sample of 380 adults in Northern Ireland and asked what was important
to them in terms of their sense of identity. They were given 19
items to consider in total and were asked to rate how important
each one was to them. The items included: ‘your age’;
‘your gender’; ‘exercise and keeping fit’;
‘the cultural tradition you come from (i.e. being Catholic
or Protestant)’; ‘your star sign’; ‘your
occupation’; ‘your neighbourhood’; ‘the
clothes you wear’, ‘the music you listen to’;
‘your political beliefs (i.e. being nationalist, unionist
etc.)’; ‘your racial identity (i.e. being White, Chinese,
African etc.)’; and ‘your religious faith’.
One way of analysing such data is to see whether
any underlying patterns emerge in people’s responses. In
other words, are there certain items that tend to be related such
that those who see some as important also tend to see others as
important as well? The key results of such an analysis –
known as a factor analysis – are shown in Table 3 (for further
technical details see Connolly, 2005).
| Table 3: Results of Factor Analysis
of Items that People Rated as Important to Them in Terms
of their Sense of Identity |
| Factor |
Items Relating Most Strongly to the Factor |
% of Variance Explained |
| 1 |
Local Neighbourhood
Social Class Background
Racial Identity
Being Protestant/Catholic
Nationality
Political Beliefs |
24.6% |
| 2 |
Clothes
Star Sign
Music
Social Activities |
14.2% |
| 3 |
Religious Faith
Political Beliefs
Family
Exercise |
8.1% |
| 4 |
Age
Gender |
6.6% |
| 5 |
Educational Background
Occupation |
6.3% |
| Source:
Connolly (2006) |
It can be seen that five main associations
between the items – or factors – emerged from the
analysis and that, taken together, they were able to account for
just under 60% of all of the variation in the ratings made by
respondents. Moreover, the way in which the items came together
also appears to make intuitive sense. Factor 2, for example, would
seem to indicate a ‘lifestyle’ identity whereby people
who consider clothes to be important to their identity also tend
to consider other things as important such as their star sign,
the music they listen to and the social activities they attend.
However, for the purposes of this present paper
the key point to note is Factor 1 which was found to be the most
influential factor accounting on its own for around a quarter
of the total variation in people’s answers. This factor
would appear to reflect the identity that is traditionally associated
with Northern Ireland, given its emphasis on territoriality (i.e.
local neighbourhood), being Protestant or Catholic and a person’s
sense of nationality and political beliefs.
What is particularly notable, within this, is
the fact that ‘racial identity’ is also so prominent
in the list of items associated with this factor. This in turn
suggests that those people who feel that their local neighbourhood,
the cultural tradition they come from, their nationality and political
beliefs are important to their sense of identity are also as likely
to state that being White is also important to them. Interestingly
this was found equally for Protestant and Catholic respondents.
What this certainly suggests is that rather
than ‘race’ being irrelevant to the culture and collective
identities of people in Northern Ireland it is actually a fundamental
aspect of them. While it may often remain implicit, the findings
above would seem to indicate that the two main cultural/political
traditions in the region do tend to have constructed themselves
around racially exclusivist lines. Whichever tradition one considers
it would appear that being Protestant or Catholic – and
thus feeling strongly about your local neighbourhood, your nationality
and your political beliefs – is also predicated on a person
being White.
Unfortunately, there is not the space to explore
the implications of these findings further in this present article.
Some of my initial thinking on this is provided elsewhere (see
Connolly, 2005) and has involved a brief exploration of the development
of the political projects of nationalism and unionism and how
both tend to be based on exclusive collective identities, including
‘race’.
Implications for Tackling Racism
So what are the implications of all this for
tackling racism in Northern Ireland? The first point, clearly,
is the need to recognise that racism is a problem in the region
and that it is not just confined to acts of racist harassment
and thus to a particular sub-section of the population but that
it implicates everyone. Second, it also needs to be recognised
that racial prejudice is no less dangerous or harmful than racist
harassment. Infact the effects of racial prejudice are that more
insidious. They can often inform, either consciously or unconsciously,
people’s actions and behaviour. This, in turn, can lead
to the development of policies, processes and routine practices
among the majority population that have the consequence of disadvantaging
and excluding minority ethnic people. There is now a substantial
body of research conducted in Northern Ireland that has helped
to identify and document how some of these processes and practices
– collectively known as ‘institutional racism’
– manifest themselves (for a summary see Connolly, 2002).
The third and final point follows on from the
last one. Alongside the need to use provisions such as Section
75 to mainstream racial equality issues to address some of these
processes at the institutional level, there is also a need to
begin to fundamentally recognise and challenge racial prejudice
in Northern Ireland. As highlighted above, this will require us
all to avoid the tendency to construct racism as a problem ‘out
there’ and one associated with others. Rather, it requires
some soul-searching and the asking of difficult questions about
ourselves and our own identities.
As I have argued elsewhere (see Connolly, 2005),
collective identities in Northern Ireland (as elsewhere) are not
inevitable and nor are they cast is stone. While the political
projects of Unionism and Nationalism may have been traditionally
racially exclusivist, there is no necessary reason why they need
to remain as such. The task for us all in Northern Ireland is
to look at and understand ourselves and our respective communities
a little more deeply and thus begin to construct more open and
inclusive identities and ways of being.
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