Multicultural society in the UK

The United Kingdom has become a multicultural society, often influenced by patterns of immigration. This diversity has led to the formation of distinct ethnic and religious subcultures.

Three main waves of immigration have contributed to the UK's multicultural landscape:

• 1950s - People arrived from India, Pakistan, and the Caribbean.
• 1990s - There was a rise in migrants from Africa.
• 2000s - Immigration came mainly from Eastern Europe, particularly Poland.

Emergence of Rastafarian subculture

In the 1970s, many young African-Caribbean people born in Britain began to adopt a Rastafarian identity.

Features of Rastafarian style and ethos

• Visible style - This included dreadlocks (often called locs), and clothing or headwear in the colours of the Ethiopian flag: red, gold, and green.
• Ethos and beliefs - Rastafarians viewed white society as "Babylon," which they believed would one day be destroyed. They worshipped Jah (God), and believed that Haile Selassie I, the Emperor of Ethiopia (formerly known as Ras Tafari), was divine or the returned messiah, and they sought repatriation to Africa.

Reasons for adopting Rastafarian identity

Hebdige (1976) and Gilroy's analysis

• Young Black people often adopted the Rasta spiritual lifestyle as a form of resistance to white culture and what they perceived as police racism, symbolised by the frequent and disproportionate police use of stop and search of Black youth.
• Many Rastafarians deliberately flaunted drug laws by openly smoking marijuana, which they saw as helping them to achieve a higher level of spirituality.

Consequences of Rastafarian visibility

Police attention and urban unrest

• Rastafarians' very visible style and look, along with their anti-white society stance, meant they were often the focus of police attention.
• Some Rastafarians were involved in the urban riots and uprisings that were common in the UK throughout the 1970s and 1980s.