Young British Muslims since 9/11: a Composite Attitudinal Profile

Abstract

The perceived ‘radicalisation’ of Muslim young people permeates representations of contemporary British Islam, notably in the media, but also in government and political thinking and in some academic discourse. This essay reviews the quantitative evidence base for this widely-held belief, utilising 27 national opinion polls conducted among British Muslims since 2001, the results of which have been disaggregated by age. The views of young Muslims, mostly categorised as under 35 years old, are compared and contrasted with those of the older generation in their faith community, from two broad perspectives. I assess, first, the relative strengths of Muslim and British identities in shaping socio-cultural behaviours and values; second, the impact of government foreign policy and counter-terrorism strategy on Muslim opinion, demonstrating linkages to political ‘alienation’ and Islamophobia. The picture which emerges is by no means monochrome andintergenerational differences are not universally pronounced. The data enable three subcommunities of young British Muslims to be identified, and their attributes are described. One of these, a small minority, is undoubtedly quite ‘radicalised’, but Muslim ‘apartism’ from mainstream British society is far from being the exclusive preserve of this group, and there is a danger that the public policy agenda may become too exclusively focused on them.