Accepting the ‘D’ word: discrimination in 1960s’ UK academic discourse

Abstract

Following the 1958 ‘race riots’ in Notting Hill, the field of ‘race relations’ in the UK changed from an anthropology of ‘coloured quarters’ in dock areas into ‘the sociological study of the migrant’. The author plots, through literature, the changing perception of the nature of race relations and extent of discrimination during the 1960s. The literature at the beginning of the decade was characterised by a questioning of ideas about discrimination, whether it existed at all, and/or focusing on the tolerance (or not) of the public. But following the Smethwick election in 1964 and the influence of Powell, the research and writing on ‘race’ began to shift at the end of the decade so that the concept of discrimination would be defined in social science, with racism becoming its primary focus.