Has multiculturalism failed in Britain?

Figures & data

Figure 1 Four acculturation strategies

Source: Berry1992.

Table 1 Generational change in social life (percentages; 1st generation on the left and 1^st–2nd generation change on the right of each column)

	Co-ethnic partner		Association members mainly co-ethnic		Friends mainly co-ethnic		Fellow worshippers mainly co-ethnic		Neighbours mainly co-ethnic		Workmates mainly co-ethnic
Bangladeshi	100	−11*	87	−10	62	−13	52	+6	26	+12*	37	−18
Pakistani	96	+2	74	0	61	−6	71	+13*	35	+4	40	−23*
Indian Sikh	95	−2	96	−14*	65	−22*	91	+4	15	0	36	−15*
Indian Hindu	96	0	82	+7	60	−18*	82	+9	16	−6	16	−6
Indian Muslim	88	−11	–	–	75	−24*	62	+3	17	+20	–	–
Black African Muslim	92	–	64	–	53	–	26	–	13	−1	18	−10
Other black African	88	–	68	+4	56	−28*	43	+8	7	−2	18	−15*
Black Caribbean	81	−29*	70	−3	53	−14*	36	−3	10	−3	8	−1
All minorities	92	−11*	77	−3	57	−15*	52	+6*	18	+2	24	−12*

* p<.05 (weighted)

Note: Percentages not reported where n<20. The base excludes non-partnered (column 1), non-members of associations or religions (columns 2 and 4) and non-workers (column 6).

Table 2 Generational change in attitudes and orientations (percentages; 1st generation on the left and 1st–2nd generation change on the right of each column)

	Minorities should maintain own values		Minorities should mix and integrate		Sharia law should apply to all cases		Husband should work and wife stay at home
Bangladeshi	85	−2	93	−5	19	+3	16	+2
Pakistani	88	−7	92	+1	19	+3	38	−21*
Indian Sikh	92	0	99	−4	N/A		15	0
Indian Hindu	87	+5	93	+6*	N/A		19	−6
Indian Muslim	7	+7	90	0	21	−16*	–	–
Black African Muslim	80	–	91	–	16	–	32	–
Other black African	74	+12	91	−3	N/A		21	–
Black Caribbean	82	+1	97	−4	N/A		26	−14
All minorities	83	+1	93	0	19	0	26	−11*

* p <.05 (weighted)

Note: Percentages not reported where n<20. Gender role question asked in mail-back supplement; sharia question asked only of Muslims.

Table 3 Generational change in identity, social distance and support for violent protest (percentages; 1st generation on the left and 1^st–2nd generation change on the right of each column)

	Feel equally or more British than black/Asian		Bothered about marriage with white person		Might support violent protest against war
Pakistani	67	+18*	30	−17*	6	+13*
Bangladeshi	63	+12	20	−7	8	+10*
Indian Sikh	56	+30*	25	−17*	14	−2
Indian Hindu	54	+18*	18	−13*	6	−1
Indian Muslim	63	+32*	18	−16	13	−8
Black African Muslim	55	–	11	–	3	–
Other black African	48	+11	14	−2	8	+10*
Black Caribbean	51	+8	10	−4	6	+1
All minorities	57	+22*	18	−10*	7	+5*

* p <.05 (weighted)

Note: Percentages not reported where n<20.

Table 4 Logistic regression of identity, social distance and support for violent protest (average marginal effects)

	Feels more black/Asian than British		Bothered about marriage to white person		Might support violent protest against war
	Model 1	Model 3	Model 1	Model 3	Model 1	Model 3
Ethno-religious group
Pakistani (ref)
Bangladeshi	0.07*	0.06	−0.04	−0.04	0.01	0.00
Indian Sikh	0.08*	0.05	−0.07**	−0.08*	0.04	0.02
Indian Hindu	0.11**	0.10**	−0.09**	−0.08**	−0.01	−0.02
Indian Muslim	−0.02	−0.01	−0.09*	−0.08	−0.02	−0.02
Other Indian	0.05	0.03	−0.12**	−0.13**	0.00	0.00
Black African Muslim	0.13***	0.14**	−0.10*	−0.11**	−0.02	−0.03
Other black African	0.25***	0.20***	−0.03	−0.05	0.04**	0.02
Black Caribbean	0.24***	0.21***	−0.07**	−0.09***	−0.03*	−0.04
Generation
1st (ref)
1.5	−0.13***	−0.14***	−0.06**	−0.07**	0.06***	0.05***
2nd +	−0.25***	−0.27***	−0.11***	−0.12***	0.06***	0.05***
Age (ln)	−0.31***	−0.33***	−0.04	−0.04	−0.08**	−0.09**
Gender	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.02	−0.03**	−0.03**
Married	0.00	0.00	0.03*	0.03*	0.00	0.00
Education	0.00	0.00	−0.01*	−0.01**	0.00	0.00
Interactions between generation and ethno-religious group	NS		NS		NS
Co-ethnic friends		0.03**		−0.02		0.00
Co-ethnic neighbours		0.01		0.01		−0.01
Co-ethnic worship		−0.02		0.01		0.02
Co-ethnic association		0.08***		0.06***		0.05**
Group discrimination		0.25***		0.06		0.10***
Individual discrimination		0.09***		0.07***		0.00
Percentage co-ethnic (ln)	0.06	0.04	0.11**	0.09*	−0.01	0.00
Index of multiple deprivation (ln)		0.08		−0.03		−0.04
N	2,552	2,552	2,537	2,537	2,520	2,520

* p<.05, ** p<.01, *** p<.001 (unweighted)

Note: Models run in STATA with robust standard errors. The average marginal effects (AME) report the change in the dependent variable computed at different values of the x variables and then averaged across the different values. For dummy variables, the marginal effect shows by how much the probability of the outcome is predicted to change as x changes from 0 to 1 holding all other explanatory variables equal. For ordinal variables, the AME report the predicted change for an increase in x of one unit. For the continuous variables, we report the difference between the probability of the outcome occurring for the lowest and highest value that the variable can take.

Appendix 1. Definitions of variables used in Table 4

Independent variable
Age	Natural logarithm of age
Gender	0 = male; 1 = female
Married	0 = not married; 1 = married/cohabiting
Education	0 = none; 1 = low; 2 = GCSE; 3 = A-level; 4 = degree
Generation	0 = 1st generation; 1 = 1.5 generation; 2 = 2nd generation plus
Ethno-religious group	0 = Pakistani; 1 = Bangladeshi; 2 = Indian Sikh; 3 = Indian Hindu; 4 = Indian Muslim; 5 = other Indian; 6 = black African Muslim; 7 = other black African; 8 = black Caribbean
Co-ethnic friends	‘As far as you know, how many of your friends have the same ethnic background as you?’ 5 = all of them; 4 = most of them; 3 = about half of them / don't know; 2 = a few of them; 1 = none of them
Co-ethnic neighbours	‘As far as you know, how many of the people in your neighbourhood have the same ethnic background as you?’ 5 = all of them; 4 = most of them; 3 = about half of them / don't know; 2 = a few of them; 1 = none of them
Co-ethnic association	0 = does not participate in any association or participates in non-ethnic association; 1 = participates in ethnic association
Co-ethnic worship	0 = not a church member or non-ethnic church member; 1 = member of co-ethnic church
Individual discrimination	0 = not experienced race discrimination; 1 = experienced race discrimination
Group discrimination	‘There is a big gap between what people from my ethnic group expect to get out of life and what they receive.’ ‘Non-white people don't have the same opportunities and chances in life as white people, as they are held back by prejudice and discrimination.’ Both items recoded so that 1 = strongly disagree; 2 = disagree; 3 = don't know / neither agree nor disagree; 4 = agree; 5 = strongly agree. Scores summed.
Percentage co-ethnic	Natural logarithm of percentage co-ethnics in the LSOA
Index of multiple deprivation	Natural logarithm of the index of multiple deprivation
Dependent variable
Social distance	How bothered if a close family member married a white person: 0 = not at all / not very much / a little / no opinion; 1 = rather a lot / a great deal
Feel more black/Asian than British	0 = equally (black/Asian) and British / more British than (black/Asian) / British not (black/Asian) / other answers; 1=(black/Asian) not British / more (black/Asian) than British
Might support violent protest against war	0 = no / don't know; 1 = yes

Berry, J. W. 1992 ‘Acculturation and adaptation in a new society’, International Migration, vol. 30, no. s1, pp. 69–8510.1111/j.1468-2435.1992.tb00776.x

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