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This chapter first examines the evidence that political alienation and disengagement is not evenly spread among all sections of British society, and indeed appears to be concentrating among some of the most disadvantaged in society. It then addresses the following question: Does it matter that some citizens are alienated from politics? The final section considers the issue of how to design solutions, and contrasts the approach of political engineers with that of democratic designers. It asks what further work social scientists might contribute to understanding and exploring the challenge of building a new politics.

This chapter focuses upon Anglo-Jewry's internal communal government, in particular the activities and operation of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. This quasi-democratic, quasi-oligarchic institution claimed sole responsibility for representing British Jews to the outside world, whilst also seeking to maintain a coherent group governed by a certain pattern of Jewish existence. After examining the workings of the Board, the chapter explores attempts to protect what it perceived as the community's interests from a variety of incursions within the broader scope of British society. It demonstrates the confusing and often conflicting stance of a minority espousing both equality and exceptionality of treatment. The chapter also investigates the minority's activities on behalf of persecuted Jews abroad, exploring the impact of Anglo-Jewish diplomacy upon both Jewish beliefs and contemporary British foreign policy, as well as illustrating the polity's opinion of the minority.

The years from 1748 to 1815 constitute a new phase of British expansion in the Caribbean, when the region was a main focus of national strategic effort. During this period, the West Indies achieved their greatest economic importance within the British Empire. After holding steady at about 10% during the first half of the 18th century, their share of British exports and imports rose to about 20% by 1815. Subsequently, the British West Indies’ relative importance would decline sharply. The colonies’ economic standing was determined above all by their performance as sugar producers. The West Indies’ share of British trade increased during the 1748–1815 period partly through their established function as sugar producers. The free coloureds became a conspicuous intermediate element in British West Indian society, but without performing an effective integrating role. They were almost as colour-conscious as the whites. Mixed race people insisted that a degree of European ancestry gave them superiority over the black masses.

This lecture presents the text of the speech about the role of intergroup contact in social integration delivered by the author at the 2006 Joint British Academy/British Psychological Society Lecture held at the British Academy. It explores the different perspectives on mixing and considers what can be learned from available data. The lecture discusses different types of intergroup contact and explains the policy implications of intergroup contact based on social-psychological theory.

This lecture presents the text of the speech about humans and apes delivered by the author at the 2007 Joint British Academy/British Psychological Society Annual Lecture held at the British Academy. It comments on the claim that an evolutionary perspective is not a competing paradigm for conventional explanations in the social sciences, and explains the why humans are so different from other apes and monkeys, despite the fact that we share so much of our evolutionary history with them.

This chapter charts the immense efforts made by several religious organizations, including missionary societies, to engage with the large numbers of visitors expected in London, Their activities included additional services and lectures, the opening of book depositories close to Hyde Park, the preparation of tracts, some of which were published in several languages, and the hiring of extra missionaries and colporteurs to distribute tracts. Special evangelical services were held at Exeter Hall attracting audiences of 3‐4000. While the Bishop of London laid plans to welcome visiting Anglicans to the metropolis, the main evangelical organizations went into top gear with the intention of saving souls. This chapter also examines how the British and Foreign Bible Society and the Religious Tract Society managed to obtain space inside the Crystal Palace, but only after much controversy.

This chapter examines the role of the monarchy in the history of the British constitution during the twentieth century, investigating how the constitutional power enjoyed by the sovereign gave way to constitutional influence and describing the changes the Parliament made to the law relevant to the Crown. It suggests that, for most of the twentieth century, sovereigns and their closest advisers recognised the continuing need to adapt the institution of monarchy so as to reflect changes in British society, and this involved further erosions in the sovereign's power.

This chapter analyses the changing nature of the community's make-up and identity during the 1880s. It focuses on the revolutionary impact of mass Jewish immigration upon the character of the established community and its position within British society, covering issues such as altering socio-economic patterns and the minority's acculturated charitable ethos. The chapter also explores the concomitant identity changes Anglo-Jews experienced, tracing the emergence of increasing ethnic conceptions of Jewishness on one hand, and more de-nationalised articulations on the other. It suggests that these developments stimulated Anglo-Jewry's historical consciousness, leading to events such as the 1887 Anglo-Jewish Exhibition, which is examined as an indication of the closure of this period of Anglo-Jewish experience, the end of the immediate post-emancipation era.

This chapter continues the examination of neglected stories and collectors of folk tales. It explores the significance of collections in Germany, France, Italy, and other European countries that led to a greater cultural interest in folklore. In England, after the foundation of the British Folklore Society, a great effort was also made by British and American folklorists to translate folk tales from other countries, such as India, China, Japan, and Africa. Yet their full impact has never been appreciated because the majority of the European folk-tale collections have not been translated or studied in English-speaking countries. For instance, until recently, one of the most exceptional of the great nineteenth-century European and American folklorists, Pitrè, was ignored. The chapter considers his life and works to demonstrate how he is an exemplary representative of those learned, dedicated folklorists who tried to make the past usable so that we might learn something about ourselves.

This concluding chapter brings together the book's analysis to summarise the nature of Anglo-Jewish identity in the post-emancipation era. It demonstrates that emancipation did not provide a solution to the perennial debate about Anglo-Jewry's position within British society. Reviewing developments between 1858 and 1887, it discusses the integrated and acculturated aspects of the minority's character, contrasting these with examples of continuing minority specificity and Jewish particularity. A spacious but unstructured identity is suggested, one which benefited from the generally tolerant British environment but could be criticised if not closely correlated to the prevailing culture, when necessary. The conclusion highlights the centrality of ambiguity to modern Anglo-Jewish identity.