Racism
Challenging and changing racist attitudes and behaviour in young people
This report explores attitudes towards racial and ethnic groups and what young people said influenced their attitudes and behaviour. It also examines the effectiveness of 5 projects in changing these attitudes.
Title: Challenging and changing racist attitudes and behaviour in young people
Author: Gerard Lemos (Lemos & Crane)
Date published: March 2005
Number of pages: 72
Availability: Download
full report 
PDF 454KB
A significant minority of young people expressed dislike of other groups. Boys were more likely than girls to feel this way as were young people from multi-cultural areas and schools.
Who was disliked and why?
Muslims and Asians, as well as Afghanis and Iraqis, were considered by some young people to be potential terrorists following the attacks on the US in September 2001, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Refugees and asylum-seekers were perceived as receiving preferential treatment.
Other groups identified were other newly arrived communities, for example 'Portuguese', 'black people', 'Afghanistanis', 'Iraqis' and 'white English'/'white British'.
Some young people believed that minority ethnic groups are not entitled to live in Britain and should be in their own country. They are also said by some not to obey the widely accepted laws and norms of British society and that they look down on white people.
Black Caribbean communities are seen to be associated with crime in the minds of some young people. On the other hand, some black and minority ethnic young people believe many white people are nasty, arrogant and racist.
What influences these attitudes?
Young people's attitudes were influenced by:
the events of 11 September 2001 and the subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the surrounding media coverage
well-publicised local circumstances and events
the views of family and friends
direct personal experience (some young people had been on the wrong end of a bad experience with a member of another community).
The projects
The 5 projects were:
Show Racism the Red Card - This uses professional footballers as anti-racist role models and is delivered into schools.
You, Me and Us - A programme of activities and workshops implemented in schools throughout Peterborough.
Diversity Awareness Programme - An intensive and sustained modular programme working on a one-to-one basis with white offenders who have either committed a racially motivated offence or whose behaviour indicates racist attitudes.
Street Life - A voluntary and informal education service offering free learning activities in the long school break.
Jubilee Football Tournament - A social housing sector initiative intended to build and strengthen relationships between white and asian young people living in close proximity to each other.
The projects effectiveness
Young people enjoyed the programme and the range of activities in it. It successfully raised young people's understanding of racial prejudice and reinforced the idea that racism is wrong.
The project had less impact on encouraging young people to challenge racist behaviour in others and was unable to change the opinions of young people over the existing reasons why they disliked minority ethnic groups. It also did less to address young people's own concerns and those issues, such as Iraq.
Although most young people enjoyed the 'You, me and us' programme, many felt it had made little impact because they were not racist anyway. Nevertheless, a number did report that they had changed their behaviour for the better towards young people from other backgrounds. Some also said that they were more likely to stand up for others experiencing racism and bullying.
This was a successful intervention. It corrected some stereotypes and misconceptions, increased self-awareness, including empathy with the experiences of others, and helped participants to see themselves as others see them, as well as influencing future behaviour.
It is unlikely though that this programme will have an impact on extreme racists with strong and unapologetic views.
The focus of anti-racism workshops was not quite right and was negatively received. The project did not have clear objectives or structure and young people did not participate in a variety of different activities.
This only had initial success in bringing young people from the 2 communities closer together for the duration of the tournament, as it was only short activity and no other activities continued after the tournament ended.
The extent of the mixing was limited. The 2 neighbourhoods had separate football teams in the Jubilee Tournament as young people from both communities expressed little enthusiasm for mixed teams.
The tournament failed to challenge prejudice or combat racist abuse and behaviour.
What helped projects succeed?
The evidence of the case studies suggests that important factors in successful interventions designed to change racist attitudes and behaviour in young people are:
well-defined objectives (which may extend beyond challenging racist attitudes and behaviour)
a clear structure
a range of activities, presenters and facilitator
sustained activities over a period of time: one-off activities make much less impact
encouraging reflection on personal attitudes and experiences, and inquiry into local events and circumstances
learning through doing and experiencing, not just listening and talking
seeking to change attitudes and behaviour for the future.
Last update: 18 March 2005