The (Non-Racist) Argument for Controlled Immigration
If you don’t believe in unrestricted immigration, you’re racist. At least, that’s what a lot of people on the left believe. Immigrants are the only reason our NHS hasn’t collapsed. They’re good for growth, they’re helping rebalance our aging population, and they contribute hugely to Britain’s vibrant cosmopolitan culture. Why would anyone want to restrict immigration unless they were racist?
It’s a compelling argument and it’s convinced a lot of people, but I don’t think it’s right — at least, not entirely.
Social Capital
Societies work best when their members find it easy to form cooperative relationships with one another. This makes sense when you think about it. The better you know your peers, the more you trust them, the easier it will be to (say) go into business, or start a neighbourhood watch. Equally, if you are very close to the members of your community, you are unlikely to take advantage of them or steal from them etc.
We call this phenomenon, ‘social capital’. Countries with high levels of social capital benefit from higher growth, lower levels of crime, more efficient labour markets, improvements in the effectiveness of government, and better public health.
Moral Capital
One of the main determinants of social capital is something called ‘moral capital’. Again, it sounds fancy, but what it really means is that everyone in the community shares the same values. You can see why the two ideas are connected. You are much less likely to trust someone if they have a completely different moral outlook. Some people (specifically people who endorse the authority, loyalty, and sanctity moral foundations — see my last article) will naturally respond very badly to reductions in moral capital. That’s not because they’re racist, it’s because their brains have developed to resist threats to the norms which keep their group together.
Immigration
High levels of immigration can severely damage moral capital, especially when the arrivals do not share the same values or religion as their hosts. As a consequence, social capital will also be depleted, meaning that the society will miss out on all those benefits listed above and may even suffer some harm. Social capital can also be damaged directly if the arriving group doesn’t speak the same language, or doesn’t understand the many thousands of social conventions which lubricate interactions between individuals.
These problems do not disappear just because you call anyone who raises them a ‘racist’. The problems continue but potential solutions go undiscussed. That is a recipe for bad policy. Open door immigration is a bad policy.
So What?
What then is the alternative? As ever, there is no simple answer. We need immigration to fuel our economy and to ensure our cultural development does not stagnate. However, too much immigration and we will start to dissolve the moral and social capital which holds civil society together. Frankly, this has already started to occur. That said, here are three simple steps which would at least take us in the right direction.
- Ensure that everyone who comes to live in Britain can speak English. We already do this for non-EEA members. Brexit gives us the opportunity to apply this rule to our continental neighbours as well. Doing so will ensure that those who come here can at least participate in society if they want to.
- Stop emphasising how diverse we all are. Yes, some diversity is a good thing because it prevents our society becoming myopic in outlook, but it demolishes moral capital by the tonne and triggers the receptors of anyone with a predisposition to protect existing moral structures. Politicians should instead be emphasising the similarity of newly arrived immigrants. That way the threat receptors are never tingled and openness becomes the natural response.
- Time and money should be put into discovering what level of immigration and what types of difference have the greatest effect on moral and social capital. This knowledge would allow governments to make informed decisions about the right level of immigration, instead of picking arbitrary numbers like “the tens of thousands”.
If you’ve enjoyed this article, please feel free to follow me on Twitter. You might also like some of the other things I’ve written, such as ‘Politicians Are Asking the Wrong Questions’ and ‘Here’s What Britain’s Political Parties Should Look Like’. As of yesterday I am also on Facebook.
I hope you’re all enjoying the Olympics!
The Individualist
11th August 2016
