Introduction: Patterns of generational change: convergent, reactive or emergent?

Abstract

The aim of this special issue is to map the extent of generational change among Britain's ethnic minority population and to understand some of the underlying processes involved. Is there greater integration across generations, or has the ‘new second generation’ in Britain remained isolated from the mainstream, perhaps as a result of the prejudice and discrimination from the white British that they have encountered or because of desires to maintain ethnic values and resist western practices? We also ask whether processes of generational change have proceeded at the same pace and direction in different domains – notably cultural, social, structural and political – and whether it has proceeded at the same pace among different minorities.

Keywords:

• generations
• cultural integration
• social integration
• structural integration
• political integration
• discrimination

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anthony Heath

ANTHONY HEATH is Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester and Emeritus Professor in the Department of Sociology at Oxford University