Classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom

Last updated

A number of different systems of classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom exist. These schemata have been the subject of debate, including about the nature of ethnicity, how or whether it can be categorised, and the relationship between ethnicity, race, and nationality.

Contents

National statistics

The ethnic group question used in the 2011 census in England. In Wales, "Welsh" and "English" were listed in the opposite order of the "White" column. The options in Scotland and Northern Ireland were slightly different from those in England and Wales. 2011 UK census ethnic group question.png
The ethnic group question used in the 2011 census in England. In Wales, "Welsh" and "English" were listed in the opposite order of the "White" column. The options in Scotland and Northern Ireland were slightly different from those in England and Wales.
The ethnic group question used in the 2011 census in Scotland. 2011 Scotland census ethnic group question.png
The ethnic group question used in the 2011 census in Scotland.

History and debate

The 1991 UK census was the first to include a question on ethnicity. [2] Field trials had started in 1975 to establish whether a question could be devised that was acceptable to the public and would provide information on race or ethnicity that would be more reliable than questions about an individual's parents' birthplaces. A number of different questions and answer classifications were suggested and tested, culminating in the April 1989 census test. The question used in the later 1991 census was similar to that tested in 1989, [3] and took the same format on the census forms in England, Wales and Scotland. However, the question was not asked in Northern Ireland. The tick-boxes used in 1991 were "White", "Black-Caribbean", "Black-African", "Black-Other (please describe)", "Indian", "Pakistani", "Bangladeshi", "Chinese" and "Any other ethnic group (please describe)". [4]

Sociologist Peter J. Aspinall has categorised what he regards as a number of "persistent problems with salient collective terminology". These problems are ambiguity in respect of the populations that are described by different labels, the invisibility of white minority groups in official classifications, the acceptability of the terms used to those that they describe, and whether the collectivities have any substantive meaning. [5]

A number of academics have pointed out that the ethnicity classification employed in the census and other official statistics in the UK since 1991 involve confusion between the concepts of ethnicity and race. [6] [7] David I. Kertzer and Dominique Arel argue that this is the case in many censuses, and that "the case of Britain is illuminative of the recurring failure to distinguish race from ethnicity". [7] Aspinall notes that sustained academic attention has been focused on "how the censuses measure ethnicity, especially the use of dimensions that many claim have little to do with ethnicity, such as skin colour, race, and nationality". [8]

In 2007, Simpson and Bola Akinwale also studied the stability of individuals' responses to ethnic group questions between the 1991 and 2001 census. They concluded that the membership of the "White" category was stable, whereas 7–9 per cent of those in the "Asian" group and 23 per cent of both the "Caribbean" and the "African" group in 1991 had switched to another group by 2001. They suggested that conscious changes in affiliation explained little of this instability, whereas unreliability of the question was significant, partly due to the ambiguous nature of the categories used and partly due to imprecision in the imputation of missing values. [9]

It has also been argued that the wording of the ethnicity question in the 2001 census, "What is your ethnic group?", embodies "an essential being ethnic" as opposed to "a constructed belonging to an ethnicity". [10] The latter would be reflected in a question such as "choose one box to best describe your ethnic group", which was subsequently added in the 2011 census. [8] Sociologist Steven Vertovec argues that "much public discourse and service provision is still based on a limited set of Census categories", and that "these categories do not begin to convey the extent and modes of diversity existing within the population today". [11]

User consultation undertaken by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the purpose of planning the 2011 census in England and Wales found that most of the respondents from all ethnic groups that took part in the testing felt comfortable with the use of the terms "Black" and "White". However, some participants suggested that these colour terms were confusing and unacceptable, did not adequately describe an individual's ethnic group, did not reflect his or her true skin colour, and were stereotypical and outdated terms. The heading "Black or Black British", which was used in 2001, was changed to "Black/African/Caribbean/Black British" for the 2011 census. As with earlier censuses, individuals who did not identify as "Black", "White" or "Asian" could instead write in their own ethnic group under "Other ethnic group". Persons with multiple ancestries could indicate their respective ethnic backgrounds under a "Mixed or multiple ethnic groups" tick box and write-in area. [12]

Between 2004 and 2008, the General Register Office for Scotland (GOS) conducted official consultation, research and question testing for the purpose of planning the 2011 Scottish census, with key evidence informing the new classification drawn from similar workshops carried out by the Office for National Statistics, the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG), and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). The GOS found that "Black" was a polarising term for many focus group participants and interviewees. Some participants opposed the use of such terms, while others supported them. Opposition to the term "Black" was strongest among individuals originating from ethnic groups in Africa and the Caribbean, especially the former. The main reasons cited for this opposition were that racial terms like "Black" and "White" were invalid, socially constructed concepts not based on empirical reality; that skin colour was distinct from ethnicity; that the "Black" and "White" categories from the earlier 2001 census were inconsistent with the "Asian" categories, thereby resulting in an unfair, double standard; and that the positioning of the "White" category atop the "non-White" categories implied a racial hierarchy, with "White" at the top. To redress this, the GOS established new, separate "African, African Scottish or African British" and "Caribbean, Caribbean Scottish or Caribbean British" tick boxes for individuals from Africa and the Caribbean, respectively, who did not identify as "Black, Black Scottish or Black British". It found that most testing participants thereafter chose to tick "African" or "Caribbean" instead of "Black". In the write-in area, they also noted their own respective ethnic groups, with few opting to write-in "Black". Additionally, individuals who did not identify as "Black", "White" or "Asian" could write in their own ethnic group under "Other ethnic group". Persons with multiple ancestries could indicate their respective ethnic backgrounds under a "Mixed or multiple ethnic groups" write-in area. [13]

There were calls for the 2011 national census in England and Wales to include extra tick boxes so people could identify their ethnic group in category A as English, Welsh and Cornish. [14] [15] The tick boxes at the time only included "British", Irish or any other. Some experts, community and special interest group respondents also pointed out that the 'Black African' category was too broad. They remarked that the category did not provide enough information on the considerable diversity that existed within the various populations currently classified under this heading. This concealed heterogeneity ultimately made the gathered data of limited use analytically. To remedy this, the Muslim Council of Britain proposed that this census category should be broken down instead into specific ethnic groups. [16] The National Association of British Arabs (NABA) and other Arab organisations also lobbied for the inclusion of a separate "Arab" entry, which would include under-reported groups from the Arab world such as Syrians, Yemenis, Somalis and Maghrebis. [17] NABA reasoned that "lack of recognition of Arabs as a separate ethnic group, and hence their exclusion, has serious consequences for the planning of services and monitoring of such problems as racial discrimination". [18] The specimen 2011 Census questions were published in 2009 and included new "Gypsy or Irish Traveller" and "Arab" categories. [19] The final version of the census form included tick-boxes for "Gypsy or Irish Traveller" under the "White" heading, and "Arab" under the "Other ethnic group" heading. [20] [21] However, in the ONS's testing in England and Wales prior to the census, no Kurdish, Iranian, Berber, Somali or Egyptian participants chose to identify as Arab. [22]

Discussing the inclusion of nationalities such as "British" and "Irish" in the ethnic group categories of the census, Nissa Finney and Ludi Simpson argue that "on purely technical grounds, this is a mistake, confirmed by enumerators reporting that some Asian respondents had ticked 'British', having seen it as the first box and wishing to confirm their British identity and nationality". [23] Samira Shackle, writing in the New Statesman , argues that "the fact that hundreds of thousands choose to describe their own ethnicity as Welsh, Scottish, or Cornish shows that 'ethnic British' is a nebulous concept". [18]

Self-definition

The ethnicity data used in UK national statistics relies on individuals' self-definition. The Office for National Statistics explain this as follows:

Is a person's ethnic group self-defined? Yes. Membership of an ethnic group is something that is subjectively meaningful to the person concerned, and this is the principal basis for ethnic categorisation in the United Kingdom. So, in ethnic group questions, we are unable to base ethnic identification upon objective, quantifiable information as we would, say, for age or gender. And this means that we should rather ask people which group they see themselves as belonging to. [24]

This self-defined categorisation was also used for classifying ethnicity in the 2001 UK Census. [25] Slightly different categories were employed in Scotland and Northern Ireland, as compared with England and Wales, "to reflect local differences in the requirement for information". [26] However, the data collected still allow for comparison across the UK. [26] Different classifications were used in the 1991 Census, which was the first to include a question on ethnicity. [27] [28]

Ethnicity categories

The following are the options the ONS currently recommends for ethnicity surveys: [29]

England and WalesNorthern IrelandScotland
White
English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/BritishScottish
Other British
Irish
Gypsy or Irish travellerIrish TravellerGypsy or Irish Traveller
Polish
Any other White background, please describeAny other White ethnic group, please describe
Mixed / multiple ethnic groupsMixed or Multiple ethnic groups
White and Black Caribbean
White and Black African
Any other Mixed / Multiple ethnic background, please describeAny Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups, please describe
Asian / Asian BritishAsian, Asian Scottish or Asian British
IndianIndian, Indian Scottish or Indian British
PakistaniPakistani, Pakistani Scottish or Pakistani British
BangladeshiBangladeshi, Bangladeshi Scottish or Bangladeshi British
ChineseChinese, Chinese Scottish or Chinese British
Any other Asian, please describe
Black / African / Caribbean / Black British
AfricanAfrican
African, African Scottish or African British
Any other African, please describe
CaribbeanCaribbean or Black
Caribbean, Caribbean Scottish or Caribbean British
Black, Black Scottish or Black British
Any other Black / African / Caribbean background, please describeAny other Caribbean or Black, please describe
Other ethnic group
ArabArab, Arab Scottish or Arab British
Any other ethnic group, please describe

In addition to the above "tick-box" options, respondents can also make use of the "please describe" options, also known as "write-in" answers. To do this, they would have to select one of the "any other" tick-boxes on the census form and write in their answer in the box provided. [29]

Police

CodeEthnicity [30]
IC1White - North European
IC2White - South European
IC3Black
IC4Asian
IC5Chinese, Japanese, or other South East Asian
IC6Arab or North African
IC9Unknown

The police services of the UK began to classify arrests in racial groups in 1975, but later replaced the race code with an Identity Code (IC) system. [31]

One of the recommendations of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry was that people stopped and searched by the police should have their self-defined ethnic identity recorded. In March 2002, the Association of Chief Police Officers proposed a new system for self-definition, based on the 2001 census. [30] From 1 April 2003, police forces were required to use this new system. Police forces and civil and emergency services, the NHS and local authorities in England and Wales may refer to this as the "6+1" system, named after the 6 classifications of ethnicity plus one category for "not stated".

The IC classification is still used for descriptions of suspects by police officers amongst themselves, but does risk incorrectly identifying a victim, a witness or a suspect compared to that person's own description of their ethnicity. When a person is stopped by a police officer exercising statutory powers and asked to provide information under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, they are asked to select one of the five main categories representing broad ethnic groups and then a more specific cultural background from within this group. [32] Officers must record the respondent's answer, not their own opinion. The "6+1" IC code system remains widely used, when the police are unable to stop a suspect and ask them to give their self-defined ethnicity. [30]

CodeEthnicity [30]
Asian or Asian British
A1Indian
A2Pakistani
A3Bangladeshi
A9Any other Asian background
Black or Black British
B1Caribbean
B2African
B9Any other Black background
Mixed
M1White and Black Caribbean
M2White and Black African
M3White and Asian
M9Any other mixed background
Chinese or any other ethnic group
O1Chinese
O9Any other ethnic group
White
W1British
W2Irish
W9Any other White background
+1 codes
N1The officer's presence is urgently required elsewhere
N2The situation involves public disorder
N3The person did not understand what is required
N4The person declined to define their ethnicity

Schools

The Department for Education's annual school census collects data on pupils in nurseries, primary, middle, secondary and special schools. [33] This includes ethnicity data for pupils who are aged 5 or over at the beginning of the school year in August. The guidance notes on data collection note that ethnicity is a personal, subjective awareness, and that pupils and their parents can refuse to answer the ethnicity question. The codes used are based on the categories used in the 2001 UK census, with added "Travellers of Irish heritage", "Gypsy/Roma heritage" and "Sri Lankan Other" categories. If these codes are judged to not meet local needs, local authorities may use a Department for Education approved list of extended categories. [33] The National Pupil Database attempts to match pupils' educational attainment to their characteristics gathered in the school census, including ethnicity. However, according to HM Inspectorate for Education and Training in Wales, the database contains data inaccuracies. A few of the local authorities and schools had also never accessed the repository, and some of these institutions were unaware of its existence. The NPD was also used least by the majority of local authorities and schools, with 65 per cent deeming this method of educational data analysis to be of limited use, about 23 per cent considering it to be fairly useful, and only around 11 per cent regarding it as being very useful. Most schools and local authorities instead used the Welsh Assembly Government's national free school meal (FSM) benchmark data, which ranks a school's performance relative to other groups of schools with comparable free school meal levels. Around 55 per cent of schools and local authorities deemed the benchmark data very useful, 35 per cent considered it fairly useful, and only about 10 per cent regarded it as being of limited use. [34] Additionally, researchers conducting analysis for the London Borough of Lambeth have argued that broad ethnic groupings such as "black African" or "white other" can hide significant variation in educational performance, so they instead recommend the use of language categories. [35] [36]

Healthcare

The ethnic group categories used in the National Health Service in England are based on the 2001 census. It has been argued that this causes problems, as other agencies such as social services use the newer 2011 census categories. [37] In Scotland, the 2011 Scottish census categories are now used. [38] In 2011, Scotland started to record ethnicity on death certificates, becoming the first country in the world to do so. Ethnicity data is not routinely recorded on birth certificates in any part of the UK. [39]

Whether the official UK ethnic group classifications are useful for research on health is the subject of debate. Peter Aspinall argues that the 2001 census categories fail to adequately break down the "white" group and ignore ethno-religious differences between South Asian groups, amongst other issues. [40] Writing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health , Charles Agyemang, Raj Bhopal and Marc Bruijnzeels argue that: "The current groupings of African descent populations in the USA and the UK such as Black, Black African, and African American hide the huge heterogeneity within these groups, which weakens the value of ethnic categorisation as a means of providing culturally appropriate health care, and in understanding the causes of ethnic differences in disease. Such broad terms may not fit with self definition of ethnicity". [41]

Collective terms for minority ethnic groups

Since the Second World War, many minority groups in the UK were collectively referred to as "coloured", a term that is deprecated and offensive in modern-day usage. [42] From the 1970s until the early 1990s, those who subscribed to the notion of political blackness used the term "black" to refer to all ethnic minorities in the UK; however, this also came under scrutiny in the 1990s, especially from British Asians, who did not feel "black". [43] [44] [45] [46]

A number of terms have been used, by government and more generally, to refer to the collective ethnic minority population. These include "black and minority ethnic" (BME), "black, Asian and minority ethnic" (BAME) and "black and ethnic minority" (BEM). These terms have been criticised on a number of grounds, including for excluding national minorities such as the Cornish, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish from the definition of ethnic minorities, for suggesting that black people (and Asian people, specifically the South Asians with BAME) are racially separate from the ethnic minority population, and for including under a single label heterogenous groups with little in common with each other. [47] [48] [49] A survey published in November 2020 found that the term "BAME" offended those whom it attempts to describe, with "ethnically diverse communities" preferred when speaking broadly, and relevant terms for a specific community or person. [50] In December 2021, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 committed not to use the term "BAME", in order to provide better representation of specific ethnic groups. [51]

In November 2022, the Labour-run Westminster City Council committed to replace BAME with "global majority." However, Conservative MP John Hayes remarked that the change was "deeply sinister and must be resisted at every turn." [52]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Harmonised Concepts and Questions for Social Data Sources - Primary Standards: Ethnic Group" (PDF). Office for National Statistics. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  2. ↑ "How has ethnic diversity grown 1991-2001-2011?" (PDF). ESRC Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity. December 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 July 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  3. ↑ Sillitoe, K.; White, P. H. (1992). "Ethnic Group and the British Census: The Search for a Question". Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A (Statistics in Society). 155 (1): 141–163. doi:10.2307/2982673. JSTOR   2982673. PMID   12159122.
  4. ↑ "A guide to comparing 1991 and 2001 Census ethnic group data" (PDF). Office for National Statistics. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  5. ↑ Aspinall, Peter J (2002). "Collective Terminology to Describe the Minority Ethnic Population: The Persistence of Confusion and Ambiguity in Usage". Sociology. 36 (4): 803–816. doi:10.1177/003803850203600401. S2CID   143472578.
  6. ↑ Ballard, Roger (1996). "Negotiating race and ethnicity: Exploring the implications of the 1991 census" (PDF). Patterns of Prejudice. 30 (3): 3–33. doi:10.1080/0031322X.1996.9970192. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  7. 1 2 Kertzer, David I.; Arel, Dominique (2002). "Censuses, identity formation, and the struggle for political power". In Kertzer, David I.; Arel, Dominique (eds.). Census and Identity: The Politics of Race, Ethnicity, and Language in National Censuses . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp.  1–42.
  8. 1 2 Aspinall, Peter J (2012). "Answer Formats in British Census and Survey Ethnicity Questions: Does Open Response Better Capture 'Superdiversity'?". Sociology. 46 (2): 354–364. doi:10.1177/0038038511419195. S2CID   144841712.
  9. ↑ Simpson, Ludi; Akinwale, Bola (2007). "Quantifying Stability and Change in Ethnic Group". Journal of Official Statistics. 23 (2): 185–208.
  10. ↑ Morning, Ann (2008). "Ethnic Classification in Global Perspective: A Cross-National Survey of the 2000 Census Round" (PDF). Population Research and Policy Review. 27 (2): 239–272. doi:10.1007/s11113-007-9062-5. S2CID   3009685. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 September 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  11. ↑ Vertovec, Steven (June 2007). "New complexities of cohesion in Britain: Super-diversity, transnationalism and civil-integration" (PDF). Commission on Integration and Cohesion. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  12. ↑ "Final recommended questions for the 2011 Census in England and Wales: Ethnic group" (PDF). Office for National Statistics. October 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  13. ↑ "Scotland's New Official Ethnicity Classification" (PDF). General Register Office for Scotland. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  14. ↑ Fight goes on to include Cornish ethnicity and language in Census 2011 options [ dead link ]
  15. ↑ "2006 local govt abstracts". Archived from the original on 5 May 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  16. ↑ "Summary report: experts, community and special interest groups" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 September 2009. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
  17. ↑ "Arab Population in the UK - Study for consideration of inclusion of 'Arab' as an ethnic group on future census returns" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  18. 1 2 Shackle, Samira (13 June 2012). "Is there any such thing as British ethnicity?". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 2 March 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  19. ↑ "2011 census questions published". BBC News. 21 October 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  20. ↑ "2011 Census: Household Questionnaire" (PDF). Office for National Statistics. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  21. ↑ "Final recommended questions for the 2011 Census in England and Wales: Ethnic group" (PDF). Office for National Statistics. October 2009. p. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  22. ↑ "Final recommended questions for the 2011 Census in England and Wales: Ethnic group" (PDF). Office for National Statistics. October 2009. p. 44. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  23. ↑ Finney, Nissa; Simpson, Ludi (2009). 'Sleepwalking to Segregation'? Challenging Myths about Race and Migration. Bristol: Policy Press. p. 36. ISBN   978-1847420077.
  24. ↑ "Ethnic group statistics: A guide for the collection and classification of ethnicity data" (PDF). Office for National Statistics. 2003. p. 9. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  25. ↑ "Harmonised Concepts and Questions for Social Data Sources: Primary Standards – Ethnic Group" (PDF). Office for National Statistics. April 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 January 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
  26. 1 2 "Population size: 7.9% from a non-White ethnic group". Office for National Statistics. 8 January 2004. Archived from the original on 19 June 2004. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
  27. ↑ Sillitoe, K.; White, P.H. (1992). "Ethnic group and the British census: The search for a question". Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A (Statistics in Society). 155 (1): 141–163. doi:10.2307/2982673. JSTOR   2982673. PMID   12159122.
  28. ↑ Bosveld, Karin; Connolly, Helen; Rendall, Michael S. (31 March 2006). "A guide to comparing 1991 and 2001 Census ethnic group data" (PDF). Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 November 2010. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  29. 1 2 "Ethnic Group". Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  30. 1 2 3 4 Bowsher, Kevin (2 March 2007). "The code systems used within the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to formally record ethnicity". Metropolitan Police Authority. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  31. ↑ Mackie, Lindsay (14 June 1978). "Race causes an initial confusion". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 3 July 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2007.
  32. ↑ "Code of Practice for the Exercise by Police Officers of Statutory Powers of Stop and Search; Police Officers and Police Staff of Requirements to Record Public Encounters" (PDF). Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 CODE A. HMSO. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 August 2006. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
  33. 1 2 "School census spring and summer 2014 guide for secondary schools: Instructions for preparing for and completing the school census 2014 for secondary schools and academies (including free schools) in England" (PDF). Department for Education. 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  34. ↑ "The use of performance data in local authorities and schools". HM Inspectorate for Education and Training in Wales. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  35. ↑ Bloom, Adi (27 September 2013). "Diversity - Ethnic groupings obscure realities". TES. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  36. ↑ Demie, Feyisa (2014). "Language diversity and attainment in schools: implication for policy and practice". Race Ethnicity and Education. 18 (5): 723–737. doi:10.1080/13613324.2014.946493. S2CID   145623216.
  37. ↑ "Ethnic Category Coding – DSCN11/2008 - Statement of Need for Standard Review" (PDF). Standardisation Committee for Care Information. 11 June 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  38. ↑ "Ethnic Group". Information Services Division, NHS National Services Scotland. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  39. ↑ Mathur, Rohini; Grundy, Emily; Smeeth, Liam (March 2013). "Availability and use of UK based ethnicity data for health research" (PDF). National Centre for Research Methods. p. 17. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  40. ↑ Aspinall, Peter J. (2000). "The New 2001 Census Question Set on Cultural Characteristics: Is it useful for the monitoring of the health status of people from ethnic groups in Britain?". Ethnicity & Health. 5 (1): 33–40. doi:10.1080/13557850050007329. PMID   10858937. S2CID   11991832.
  41. ↑ Agyemang, Charles; Bhopal, Raj; Bruijnzeels, Marc (2005). "Negro, Black, Black African, African Caribbean, African American or what? Labelling African origin populations in the health arena in the 21st century". Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. 59 (12): 1014–1018. doi:10.1136/jech.2005.035964. PMC   1732973 . PMID   16286485.
  42. ↑ Mohdin, Aamna (3 March 2018). "'Political blackness': a very British concept with a complex history". Quartz.
  43. ↑ Appiah, Kwame Anthony (7 October 2020). "What We Can Learn From the Rise and Fall of 'Political Blackness'". The New York Times.
  44. ↑ Modood, Tariq (1994). "Political blackness and British Asians". Sociology. 28 (4): 859–876. doi:10.1177/0038038594028004004. ISSN   0038-0385. S2CID   143869991.
  45. ↑ Andrews, Kehinde (September 2016). "The problem of political blackness: lessons from the Black Supplementary School Movement" (PDF). Ethnic and Racial Studies. 39 (11): 2060–2078. doi:10.1080/01419870.2015.1131314. S2CID   147057939.
  46. ↑ Alexander, Claire (3 May 2018). "Breaking black: the death of ethnic and racial studies in Britain". Ethnic and Racial Studies. 41 (6): 1034–1054. doi: 10.1080/01419870.2018.1409902 . ISSN   0141-9870. S2CID   148845583.
  47. ↑ Aspinall, Peter J. (2002). "Collective Terminology to Describe the Minority Ethnic Population: The Persistence of Confusion and Ambiguity in Usage". Sociology. 36 (4): 803–816. doi:10.1177/003803850203600401. S2CID   143472578.
  48. ↑ Okolosie, Lola; Harker, Joseph; Green, Leah; Dabiri, Emma (22 May 2015). "Is it time to ditch the term 'black, Asian and minority ethnic' (BAME)?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  49. ↑ Sandhu, Rajdeep (17 May 2018). "Should BAME be ditched as a term for black, Asian and minority ethnic people?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  50. ↑ MacInnes, Paul (12 November 2020). "'BAME' term offends those it attempts to describe, sporting survey finds". The Guardian.
  51. ↑ "BAME acronym: UK broadcasters commit to avoiding catch-all term". BBC News. 7 December 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  52. ↑ Beal, James (25 November 2022). "Westminster council rebrand dubs minorities 'global majority'". The Times. Archived from the original on 25 November 2022.

Related Research Articles

In the United States census, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Office of Management and Budget define a set of self-identified categories of race and ethnicity chosen by residents, with which they most closely identify. Residents can indicate their origins alongside their race, and are asked specifically whether they are of Hispanic or Latino origin in a separate question.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2001 United Kingdom census</span> Nationwide census in the United Kingdom in 2001

A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Americans</span> People of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White

White Americans are Americans who identify as white people. This group constitutes the majority of the people in the United States. According to the 2020 census, 71%, or 235,411,507 people, were White alone or in combination, and 61.6%, or 204,277,273 people, were White alone. This represented a national white demographic decline from a 72.4% white alone share of the U.S. population in 2010.

The United Kingdom is an ethnically diverse society. The largest ethnic group in the United Kingdom is White British, followed by Asian British. Ethnicity in the United Kingdom is formally recorded at the national level through a census. The 2011 United Kingdom census recorded a reduced share of White British people in the United Kingdom from the previous 2001 United Kingdom census. Factors that are contributing to the growth of minority populations are varied in nature, including differing birth rates and Immigration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Race and ethnicity in the United States</span>

The United States has a racially and ethnically diverse population. At the federal level, race and ethnicity have been categorized separately. The most recent United States census recognized six racial categories, as well as people who belong to two or more of the racial categories. The United States also recognizes the broader notion of ethnicity. The 2000 census and 2010 American Community Survey inquired about the "ancestry" of residents, while the 2020 census allowed people to enter their "origins". The Census Bureau also classified respondents as either Hispanic or Latino, identifying as an ethnicity, which comprises the minority group in the nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black British people</span> British people of African descent

Black British people are a multi-ethnic group of British citizens of either African or Afro-Caribbean descent. The term Black British developed in the 1950s, referring to the Black British West Indian people from the former Caribbean British colonies in the West Indies sometimes referred to as the Windrush Generation and people from Africa, who are residents of the United Kingdom and are British citizens.

Somalis in the United Kingdom include British citizens and residents born in or with ancestors from Somalia. The United Kingdom (UK) is home to the largest Somali community in Europe, with an estimated 108,000 Somali-born immigrants residing in the UK in 2018 according to the Office for National Statistics. The majority of these live in England, with the largest number found in London. Smaller Somali communities exist in Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, Leicester, Milton Keynes, Sheffield and Cardiff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White British</span> Ethnic classification used in the 2011 United Kingdom Census

White British is an ethnicity classification used for the native white population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population was 49,997,686, 81.5% of Great Britain's total population. For the United Kingdom entirely, due to different reporting measures within Northern Ireland which includes all those who identified as British with those who identified as Irish, an amalgamated total of 52,320,080 including those who identified as White Irish in Great Britain is given making up 82.8% of the population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mixed (United Kingdom ethnicity category)</span> Ethnicity category

Mixed is an ethnic group category that was first introduced by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics for the 2001 Census. Colloquially it refers to British citizens or residents whose parents are of two or more different races or ethnic backgrounds. The Mixed or Multiple ethnic group in England and Wales numbered 1.7 million in the 2021 census, 2.9% of the population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Other White</span> Classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom

The term Other White, or White Other, is a classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom, used in documents such as the 2021 United Kingdom Census, to describe people who identify as white persons who are not of the English, Welsh, Scottish, Gypsy, Roma, Irish or Irish Traveller ethnic groupings. In Scotland, the term Other White is also used to refer collectively to those not of Scottish or Other British ethnicity, in which case it also includes those of a Gypsy, Roma, Irish or Irish Traveller background.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Arabs</span>

British Arabs are British citizens of Arab descent. They share a common Arab ethnicity, culture, language and identity from different Arab countries. Arabs also come from non-Arab countries as ethnic minorities.

Asian people are the people of Asia. The term may also refer to their descendants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Irish</span> Ethnicity classification used in the 2011 United Kingdom Census

White Irish is an ethnicity classification used in the 2011 United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White Irish population was 585,177 or 1% of Great Britain's total population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Race and ethnicity in censuses</span>

Many countries and national censuses currently enumerate or have previously enumerated their populations by race, ethnicity, nationality, or a combination of these characteristics. Different countries have different classifications and census options for race and ethnicity/nationality which are not comparable with data from other countries. In addition, many of the race and ethnicity concepts that appear on national censuses worldwide have their origins in Europe or in the views of Europeans, rather than in the views of the locals of these countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demography of Luton</span> Statistics regarding ethnicity, religion and language in Luton, Bedfordshire, England

Luton, Bedfordshire, England is an ethnically and culturally diverse town of 203,201 people. It's primarily urban, with a population density of 4,696/km2 (12,160/sq mi). Luton has seen several waves of immigration. In the early part of the 20th century, there was internal migration of Irish and Scottish people to the town. These were followed by Afro-Caribbean and Asian immigrants. More recently immigrants from other European Union countries have made Luton their home. As a result of this Luton has a diverse ethnic mix, with a significant population of Asian descent, mainly Pakistani 29,353 (14.4%) and Bangladeshi 13,606 (6.7%).

White Polish is an ethnicity classification used in Scotland at the 2011 United Kingdom Census. In the census, the White Polish population stood 571,762 in the whole United Kingdom, 61,201 of which were in Scotland which was 1.16% of the total population of Scotland at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on African diaspora</span>

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed race-based health care disparities in many countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Canada, and Singapore. These disparities are believed to originate from structural racism in these countries which pre-dates the pandemic; a commentary in The BMJ noted that "ethnoracialised differences in health outcomes have become the new normal across the world" as a result of ethnic and racial disparities in COVID-19 healthcare, determined by social factors. Data from the United States and elsewhere shows that minorities, especially black people, have been infected and killed at a disproportionate rate to white people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Gypsy or Irish Traveller</span> Ethnicity classification used in the 2011 United Kingdom Census

White Gypsy or Irish Traveller is an ethnicity classification used in the 2011 United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White Gypsy or Irish Traveller population was 63,193 or about 0.1 per cent of the total population of the country. The ethnicity category may encompass populace from the distinct ethnic groups of Romanichal Travellers or Irish Travellers, and their respective related subgroupings, who identify as, or are perceived to be, white people in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White people in the United Kingdom</span> Racial and multi-ethnic group

White people in the United Kingdom are a multi-ethnic group of UK residents who identify as and are perceived to be 'white people'. White people constitute the historical and current majority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 87.2% of the population identifying as white in the 2011 United Kingdom census.

Mixed White and Black African people in the United Kingdom are a multi-ethnic and biracial group of UK-residents who identify with, or are perceived to have, both White and Black African ancestry.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.