Black migrants

Black Migrants: White Natives is a study of race relation in Nottingham. Once dubbed the "race war city" after serious disturbances in 1958, the city later developed a widely held reputation for enlightened policies and and harmonious relations. This encouraged a number of writers to assume that the city's race relations had been transformed. However, on the basis of extensive and systematic research, the sociologist Daniel (aka Danny) Lawrence reaches a very different conclusion. He argues that the reputation was based on an uncritical acceptance of the views of people whose knowledge of the situation was at best superficial or those who had deliberately set out to promote a favourable image. More fundamentally, the changed reputation was based on misconceptions about the very nature of race relations. In advancing this argument. Lawrence moves beyond the confines of Nottingham and, indeed the UK, and makes a contribution to more general sociological questions about race relations and related academic debates. In his concluding section he also points to the policy implications of his findings and analysis.