This chapter ‘The demography of ethnic minorities in Britain’, which features in a longer book ‘Ethnicity, Race and Inequality in the UK’ published in April 2020 by Bristol University Press, was used as a reference in the People’s Review of Prevent to illustrate that Britain’s different ethnic communities were already becoming more integrated naturally, which disproved the first argument used for Prevent: that it was necessary for “social cohesion”.
Before highlighting how government analysis of data based on measures of identity can expose unequal experiences and the effects of discrimination, and that the official categories for ethnicity reflect political choices made in particular historical contexts, and thus have shifted and will continue to change, the chapter:
- introduces the nature of ethnic diversity in the UK, giving an overview of the size and location of ethnic groups in the UK and how they have changed over time;
- considers the ways in which Britain’s history as a global empire and related migration have shaped the categories we use today, which, in turn, determined the nature of ethnic diversity in the UK;
- examines historic migration flows and current ethnic groups in the UK, the age structures of different ethnic groups, which reflect patterns and periods of migration as well as fertility and mortality patterns.
- considers the ways in which processes of migration have produced distinct residential patterns for different ethnic groups and how these are changing.
The chapter is available HERE.
The book is available HERE.
Related Resources
- View our full Resource archives for more on diversity, identity and racism, in relation to Prevent.
- The People’s Review of Prevent (Report, 2022)
- The Prevent Strategy: A Cradle to Grave Police State (Report, 2014)
- Segregation in Britain is decreasing: Highlights from the 2011 census (Brief, 2013)
