Who intermarries in Britain? Explaining ethnic diversity in intermarriage patterns

Posted in Articles, Asian Diaspora, Media Archive, Social Science, United Kingdom on 2014-02-15 21:32Z by Steven

Who intermarries in Britain? Explaining ethnic diversity in intermarriage patterns

The British Journal of Sociology
Volume 61, Issue 2 (June 2010)
pages 275–305
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-4446.2010.01313.x

Raya Muttarak, Visiting Fellow
Department of Political and Social Sciences
European University Institute

Anthony Heath, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Emeritus Fellow of Nuffield College
University of Oxford

This paper investigates trends, patterns and determinants of intermarriage (and partnership) comparing patterns among men and women and among different ethnic groups in Britain. We distinguish between endogamous (co-ethnic), majority/minority and minority/minority marriages. Hypotheses are derived from the theoretical literatures on assimilation, segmented assimilation and opportunity structures. The empirical analysis is based on the 1988–2006 General Household Surveys (N = 115,494). Consistent with assimilation theory we find that, for all ethnic minority groups, the propensity to intermarry is higher in the second generation than in the first. Consistent with ideas drawn from segmented assimilation theory, we also find that substantial differences in propensity to form majority/minority marriages persist after controls for individual characteristics such as age, educational level, generation and length of residence in Britain, with men and women of Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi background having higher propensities to form endogamous partnerships. However, we also find that opportunity structures affect intermarriage propensities for all groups alike, with individuals in more diverse residential areas (as measured by the ratio of majority to minority residents in the area) having higher likelihood to form majority/minority partnerships. We conclude then that, beginning from very different starting points, all groups, both minority and the majority groups exhibit common patterns of generational change and response to opportunity structures. Even the groups that are believed to have the strongest community structures and the strongest norms supporting endogamy appear to be experiencing increasing exogamy in the second generation and in more diverse residential settings. This suggests that a weak rather than a strong version of segmented assimilation provides the best account of British patterns.

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‘Mixed Race’ Children in British Society: Some Theoretical Considerations

Posted in Articles, Media Archive, Social Science, United Kingdom on 2010-11-27 02:23Z by Steven

‘Mixed Race’ Children in British Society: Some Theoretical Considerations

The British Journal of Sociology
Volume 35, Number 1 (March, 1984)
pages 42-61

Anne Wilson

A study of the racial identity of British ‘mixed race’ children raises a number of theoretical issues about the racial categorization system of Britain; in particular, the validity of the assumption that British racial thought is strictly dichotomous (perceived in terms of the two mutually exclusive categories of ‘black’ and ‘white’) is called into question.

In British and American sociological literature, mixed race people have often been described as occupying a ‘marginal’ or an in-between position, from which they can only escape by adopting full membership of either the black or the white group. None the less, some sociologists have suggested that it is possible for mixed race people to steer a successful course between the two groups or to alter their racial self-image according to circumstance: more generally, it has been argued that the process of ethnic identity is more fluid and dynamic than it is frequently depicted.

The dichotomous ‘black-or-white’ model of racial identity stems from analysis of the American racial structure: the investigation of British racial identity would appear to require a more flexible view of the racial categorization system.

When sociologists attempt to formulate a sociological problem about a particular group of people, their first concern is to locate the boundaries of the group in question and then to place discussion of it in the context of sociological theory. Where the object of enquiry is defined in racial terms this research step merits special consideration; for the question of what constitutes racial difference is still a matter of contention.

In this paper, I shall explore some of the theoretical issues involved in studying the racial identity of the children of British interracial…

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