Ethnic diversity in the UK: new opportunities and changing constraints

Abstract

The study of ethnicity and migration is a fast evolving field. Much remains to be understood about economic, social, demographic and health outcomes across ethnic groups and generations, and the extent of integration and exclusion of different immigrantorigin groups in countries of destination. While cross-national studies are increasingly shedding light on issues of differential migrant selection and institutional influences, detailed singlecountry studies, based on high quality nationally representative data have much to offer in enhancing our understanding of diversity within and between groups. The introduction to this special issue on 'ethnic diversity in the UK: new opportunities and changing constraints' provides a background to the contributions in the issue by outlining key research agendas relating to immigrant and ethnic minority groups in Western Europe. It then elaborates why the UK represents a good case for exploring ethnic diversity and change; and outlines the contributions made by the papers in the issue. We highlight the distinctive features of the data source used in the papers, Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study. We also consider limitations in the data and in the applications in the issue. We conclude by briefly outlining the policy-relevant contributions of the papers in the issue.

The relationship between political and ethnic identity among UK ethnic minority and majority populations

“…All adult (16+ year old) members of the sampled household are interviewed at oneyear intervals (Knies 2017). For further information on the relevance of Understanding Society for research on ethnicity, see Platt and Nandi (2020). Core content asked at each wave (on family, education, employment, income and health) is supplemented by rotating content (on identity, political behaviour, gender attitudes, the composition of social networks, etc.)…”

Ethnic Poverty: Causes, Implications, and Solutions

“…In the UK, the poverty rates in 2015 were about 50% for Bangladeshi groups, 47% for Pakistani, 40% for black, 35% for Chinese, and 25% for Indian, compared with 19% for white ethnic groups (Weekes-Bernard 2017). Minority ethnic groups are also more frequently in persistent poverty (Platt and Nandi 2020). For example, in contrast to 13% for white individuals, Caribbean, Bangladeshi, African, and Pakistani individuals had persistent poverty rates of 23%, 24%, 31%, and 37%, respectively, in 2015-2016 (Weekes-Bernard 2017).…”

“…The UK itself has a long history with ethnic minorities dating back to the first Jewish community in 1070 (BBC 2020; MigrationMuseum 2017). The story of black people in the UK dates back to when Romans ruled Britain and some Chinese communities in the UK date back to the arrival of Chinese seamen in Europe (Costello 2001;Platt and Nandi 2020). Since the 1940s, there has been substantial immigration from Africa, the West Indies, and the Indian Subcontinent as a result of the legacy of ties forged by the British Empire (Piper 2018).…”

Unravelling the ‘immigrant health paradox’: ethnic maintenance, discrimination, and health behaviours of the foreign born and their children in England

“…The stylized facts of an immigrant health paradox appear to hold in the UK and the USA and many other countries, but these more general findings potentially conceal substantial heterogeneity (Schwartz et al 2010); see also the Introduction to this Special Issue (Platt and Nandi 2020). Two major sources of heterogeneity are gender and the culture of origin; because cultural norms vary across countries and cultures and within each country and culture group, and proscriptions of behaviour are different for men and women.…”

“…We use data from the first three waves of Understanding Society: the UK Longitudinal Household Study (University of Essex 2018), which started in 2009 with a General Population Sample (GPS) of around 26,000 households including an ethnic minority boost sample (EMBS) of 4,000 households with individuals from an ethnic minority background (McFall, Nandi, and Platt 2017). The sample design and coverage, particularly from the perspective of research on ethnicity, is covered in the Introduction of this Special Issue (Platt and Nandi 2020). Questions that are considered to be sensitive and may be answered incorrectly if asked by an interviewer due to social desirability bias are asked in a self-completion questionnaire.…”