SOAS Research Online

Abstract

As the title indicates, the subject-matter of this thesis is the social relations between the Indian immigrants and the host society in the United Kingdom. The Indian immigrants in the United Kingdom which are a part of the social category 'Indians in the United Kingdom' have formed themselves into linguistic-regional communities based on the immigrants' origins in India. This community is the largest group within which all-immigrant relationships are confined. In other words it is a sociological isolate not always consciously recognised by the Immigrants themselves. The immigrants identify themselves emotionally with a smaller sub-group viz. the village-kin group. This is composed of the immigrants who see each other as relatives or as members of their village of origin in India. The closest co-operation in the extra-familial activities exist within this group. The nature and extent of an immigrant's participation or his voluntary exclusion from the activities in which the immigrant enters into relationship with the host society can be fruitfully co-related to his membership of this twin groupings i.e. the Indian community or the village-kin group. In a number of situations of contact with the host society, an individual immigrant uses his membership of the group to derive some positive advantage. The thesis is then concerned with the manner and the situations in which this is done. In the first chapter I have given an account of the field-work and the sociological issues involved in the thesis. In the second chapter I identify the Indian immigrants, through socio-cultural facts which are useful in the latter analysis and also give an account of the structural features of the Indian community. In the third chapter, I describe the settlement of Indians in the United Kingdom and also deal with problems concerning housing, overcrowding and so on. In the next chapter, which is of special importance, deals with work-situation, in which almost all immigrants come into contact with members of the host society. The first part deals with the participation of immigrants in the economic activities of the host society; the second part deals with the exclusive economic activities of the immigrants. The fifth chapter deals with mixed marriages and sex relationships between the immigrants and the members of the host society. The sixth chapter deals with immigrant leadership and the associations through which it functions. The last chapter deals with the conclusions.