Ethnicity Flashcards
Are we diverse?…
Data from the latest (2011) census shows that 86% of the UK population are classified as ‘white’, 7.5% as ‘Asian’ or ‘Asian-British’, 3.3% as’ Black’, 2.2% as ‘Mixed’ and 1% as ‘other’.
How has the UK become so diverse?…
The 2011 census indicates UK’s ethnic diversity is home grown rather than an outcome of immigration. Manchester University’s Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) say the growth in Britain’s established ethnic groups has been caused, in the main, by an excess of births over deaths. The extent of the evolving family structures, roles and relationships in the light of ethnic and social change is explored.
Examples of diversity in the UK…
Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups have grown each by about 50% during 2001-2011, mostly because more people have been born than have died.
For the Caribbean group – who in the came to the UK more than 60 years ago – growth has been less than 5%, which was entirely down to the excess of births over deaths, rather than immigration.
The Irish group, with a relatively elderly population, reduced by 18% over the decade, both from an excess of deaths over births and from net emigration. Some immigrants continue to arrive in their twenties. Of the established groups, only the Indians, they say, have grown substantially through immigration, accounting for two thirds of their growth, though many of these are students.
Home grown…
However, immigration was the main factor for newer Eastern European, African and Chinese ethnic groups, who grew between 70% and 100% in total through the decade.
According to the 2001 and 2011 Censuses, the population of England and Wales grew from 52.4 million in 2001 to 56 million in 2011.
Lead researcher Professor Ludi Simpson said: “By examining the changing age structure of each ethnic group between the 2001 and 2011 Censuses, we have estimated the significance of international migration, births and deaths to population growth, and tracked changing fertility patterns. “And this research shows categorically that, contrary to popular opinion, our diversity is home grown.”
South-Asian family life in the UK…
Ballard (1982) noted that most South-Asian families had a much broader network of familial-relations than a typical white-British family and one individual household might be only one small part of a complex global network of kin-relations.
Ballard…
Ballard argued that in order to understand South-Asian family life in the UK in the 1980s, you had to look at the ideal model of family life in Asia which is Patriarchal, being based on tight control of women, collectivist (the group is more important than the individual) and obsessed with mainting family honour (primarily through not getting divorced/ committing adultury or having children outside of wedlock) because maintaining honour was crucial to your being able to do business in the wider community.
Ballard also stressed the importance of Honour and its Patriarchal nature….. The complexity of the question of the asymmetry of the sexes is nowhere better illustrated than in the concepts of honour, izzat and shame.
Izzat…
In its narrower sense izzat is a matter of male pride. Honourable men are expected to present an image of fearlessness and independence to the outside world, and at the same time to keep close control over the female members of their families.
For a woman to challenge her husband’s or her father’s authority in public shamefully punctures his honour.
To sustain male izzat wives, sisters and daughters must be seen to behave with seemly modesty, secluding themselves from the world of men.
Ethnically diverse family structures…
Asian – most Asian households are built on the nuclear model though they do tend to encourage extended family forms. Cohabitation is rare, and marrying young is normal though sometimes arranged.
African-Caribbean – single parenthood is very high in this ethnic group. In 2001 48% of African-Caribbean families were headed by lone parents (women), they also have the lowest marriage rate and relative divorce rate.
Multi-cultural families – there has been an increasing number of partnerships between people from different ethnic groups. Beck-Gernsheim 2002 studies have found there can be conflict between the ethnic groups of origin yet she also found that multicultural marriages help break down social barriers.
Conclusions…
Asian households are three times less likely to be cohabiting, and have higher rates of marriage.
Asian households have half the rate of Lone Person households compared to white households.
Black and mixed households have twice the rate of lone parent households.
Black, Asian and mixed households have incredibly low levels of pensioner couple households compared to White households, and much higher rates of ‘other households’.
Views on sex…
According to a poll in 2018, British Asians are twice as likely to report that ‘sex before marriage’ is unacceptable than ‘all Britons’, they are also more likely to be against same-sex relationships.
A previous UK National Statistics report showed that the highest proportions of married couples under pension age, with or without children, are in Asian households. Over half of Bangladeshi (54%), Indian (53%) and Pakistani (51%) households contained a married couple, compared with 37% of those headed by a White British person. Demonstrating the importance of marriage for the Brit-Asian communities.
Divorce…
Divorce has traditionally been seen as something shameful in Asian culture, with children under pressure to stay in loveless marriages in order to uphold the family’s honour and prevent shame falling on the family.
However, for today’s third and fourth generation Asians, things are much different There s a soaring British Asian divorce rate now that young Asian men and especially women are better educated and increasingly going into professional careers.
Women have higher fertility rates…
The fertility rate for UK born mothers is 1.63, compared to 1.99 for non UK born mothers. This means the birth rate for non-UK born mother is about 25% higher.
The percentage of babies born to women from outside the UK has increased considerably over the last 20 years, but has recently levelled off and could now be declining.
Around 28% of births are to women who were born outside of the UK in 2018.
Interracial relationships are increasing…
The fact that interracial relationships are increasing might make it more difficult to make generalisations between ethnic groups in the future…..
Overall almost one in 10 people living in Britain is married to or living with someone from outside their own ethnic group, the analysis from the Office for National Statistics shows.
But the overall figure conceals wide variations. Only one in 25 white people have settled down with someone from outside their own racial background. By contrast 85 per cent of people from mixed-race families have themselves set up home with someone from another group.
Age is the crucial factor with those in their 20s and 30s more than twice as likely to be living with someone from another background as those over 65, reflecting a less rigid approach to identity over time.
Family structure…
Asian – most Asian households are built on the nuclear model though they do tend to encourage extended family forms. Cohabitation is rare, and marrying young is normal though sometimes arranged.
African-Caribbean – single parenthood is very high in this ethnic group. In 2001 48% of African-Caribbean families were headed by lone parents (women), they also have the lowest marriage rate and relative divorce rate.
Multi-cultural families – there has been an increasing number of partnerships between people from different ethnic groups. Beck-Gernsheim 2002 studies have found there can be conflict between the ethnic groups of origin yet she also found that multicultural marriages help break down social barriers.
