Benefits and Problems That Immigrants Have Brought to British Society - Case Study Example

Have the benefits that immigrants have brought to British Society outweighed the problems they have caused? Introduction Great Britain has a great history of accommodating immigrants irrespective of their social, cultural or economic backgrounds. People from all over the world are immigrating to Britain because of the immense facilities and living conditions it offers to the immigrants. Immigration brought many advantages to the British society. The skills and expertise of overseas population was used extensively in the development of Britain. At the same time Immigration caused lot of problems also to Britain. Increased chances of terrorism and criminal activities are cited as the major problems of uncontrolled or unsupervised immigration. According to mail online report, Britain plans to ban wives brought to the UK, mainly from India and Pakistan (Crackdown on 80,000 immigrants for abusing benefits system, 2009). This paper compares the benefits and problems of immigration in Britain Benefits and Problems that immigrants have brought to British Society Chart (2003) has argued that if someone is sufficiently motivated to travel thousands of miles in search of a better life, they are sufficiently motivated to get out of the damp bedsit and look for work in search of one that is better yet (Chart, 2003). People are immigrating to other countries on the lookout of better living conditions. In their home country, they may not have enough opportunities to utilize their expertise. For example, India is a country which is blessed with immense educated and skilled manpower resources. The problem with India is that because of the immense population size, it is unable to provide enough opportunities to the unemployed and thus failed to capitalise on the huge manpower resources they have. On the other hand UK is a country which is blessed with enough opportunities, but less manpower resources. Thus immigration helped UK to utilize the overseas manpower resources for their economic development. The immigrant community will work hard for better living conditions which will be beneficial to Britain. In fact, most of Indians are not working hard if they work in their home country whereas in immigrant countries like Middle East, America or UK, they have a good reputation as far as hardworking is concerned. “Immigration will add substantial numbers of economically productive individuals, and given the chance, many of them will be more economically productive than average” (Chart, 2003). Another biggest contribution of the immigrant community is the enrichment of British culture. A culture is a living thing, and it is always growing and changing. Cultures which feed on nothing but themselves tend to become stale and derivative, while those that are open to outside influences are constantly renewed and remain exciting (Chart, 2003). Culture can be considered like a living thing. It is impossible for culture to grow if it failed to be vitalized or fertilized. Vitalization or fertilization of culture can be achieved only through the interaction with others. The immigrant community brings diverse culture also with them to Britain when they immigrate to Britain. For example, India is a country dominated by Hindus and Pakistan is a country dominated by Muslims. When Indians and Pakistanis immigrate to Britain, they bring their domestic culture also with them. We can see lot of Indian and Pakistani restaurants in Britain now which serves Indian and Pakistani dishes. British people will get an opportunity to taste the nutritious Indian and Pakistani foods because of immigration. At times even the cultural diversity may change even the dress codes. Many British people are now using the Indian dresses like Saris, Salvar, Dhothies etc instead of their conventional dresses. A well-placed government source said: "Some British men with Indian or Pakistani backgrounds marry young women from the Indian subcontinent (Crackdown on 80,000 immigrants for abusing benefits system, 2009). Marriages between Indians and the British are a common thing nowadays. Globalization has brought many changes in the world and the cultural integration of countries is one among them. The close relationships with other culture will help Britain to reduce its conflicts or tensions with external world. For example, some specific communities like the Muslims have lot of reservations about some of the foreign policies of British government. The increased cooperation between Britain and the external world or the Muslim world is possible through immigration. “It is certainly true that it is very helpful for immigrants to learn English, because not speaking English cuts them off from a lot of British culture. On the other hand, what is wrong with English children learning Urdu or Cantonese” (Chart, 2003). As per modern research findings, second language proficiency will increase the numerical ability of children. Immigration helps both the British people and the immigrant community to learn different languages. The spreading of English language through immigrant community is definitely beneficial to the British culture. At the same time British children get the opportunity to learn other languages which will make them more intelligent. Atkinson, (2003) has pointed out that immigration resulted in a national identity crisis in Britain. He has argued that immigration has caused both white British resentment toward coloured people and sparked a national identity crisis. Forced marriages and genital mutilation, which are not part of the British culture, are more common in Britain today (Atkinson, 2003). Immigration is a major threat fro establishing a single national identity for Britain. Multiculturalism cannot guarantee a single national identity. British people are so proud about their heritage, tradition and culture. Immigrant community cannot guarantee the preservation of Britain’s national culture. For example, many immigrants in Britain are not aware of English language and many others speak a language mixed with English and their mother tongue. For example when the immigrant Indians speaks English, their accent and pronunciation would be different. Same way when Pakistanis speak English, the influence of Urdu would be more visible in their conversation. In short, immigration caused different styles and different accents to the English language which is more than enough for the British to bear. “The terrorist attacks of recent years gave rise to alarming observations that children of Pakistani and Bangladeshi families weren’t able to adapt to British society” (Duflo, 2007). One of the most important arguments against immigration at present is the increased probabilities of terrorism. Terrorists can easily influence the immigrant communities to execute their projects. It is difficult for the terrorists to execute their plans in another country without the support from the residents there. It is difficult for the terrorists to get assistance from people of British origin and citizenship. At the same time immigrant community always keep a love towards their mother country and it is difficult for them to leave their nationalism and patriotic thoughts behind while immigrating to countries like Britain. Conclusions Immigration is one way of integration of global culture. Immigration has brought many benefits to Britain. Cheap labour and diverse workforce are the major advantages of immigration. The interaction with the immigrant community helped British community to integrate their culture to global levels. Immigrant community will work harder than the local community and hence the productivity of the industrial sector will be increased. At the same time immigration has the potential to spoil the indigenous culture. The spreading of terrorism is another major problems associated with immigration. Terrorists can easily influence the immigrant community for executing their projects. Considering all the above points I strongly believe that immigration has more benefits rather than demerits. References 1. Atkinson James (2003), British immigration policy, race relations, and national identity crisis, Retrieved on 10 March 2010 from http://www.jimmyatkinson.com/papers/british.html 2. Chart David (2003), In praise of immigration, Retrieved on 10 March 2010 from http://www.davidchart.com/Essays/inpraiseofimmigration.html 3. Crackdown on 80,000 immigrants for abusing benefits system (2009), Retrieved on 10 March 2010 from http://chaisamosa.net/index.php/latest-news/200908021388/crackdown-on-80000-immigrants-for-abusing-benefits-system/menu-id-363html 4. Duflo Esther, (2007), Successful assimilation of immigrants, Retrieved on 10 March 2010 from http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/763 Read More