Finney, N. and L. Simpson (2009). 'Sleepwalking to segregation'?: challenging myths about race and migration. Bristol, Policy Press.
This book challenges the argument that Britain is 'sleepwalking to segregation', examining recent debates about community cohesion, and arguing that many contemporary claims about race and migration are myths. Specifically, the book highlights the following as myths of race and migration: that 'Britain takes too many immigrants'; that 'so many minorities cannot be integrated'; that 'minorities do not want to integrate', that 'Britain is becoming a country of ghettos', and the myth of 'minority white cities', showing how the myths were constructed and do not stand up to empirical evidence. The methods that the authors use include policy analysis and critical analysis of statistics, media and government discourse. The authors argue that the myths of race and migration are the real threat to an integrated society, rather than diversity and mobility which are expected and benign. The book argues that instead of dwelling on myths about race and migration, policy should open up debates to new policy frameworks which address meeting human rights and meeting basic needs, focusing on problems of inequality, living standards, and perceptions of inequality.