The Measurement of Ethnicity

Julie Lamb

Department of Sociology

University of Surrey

The Session

• Defining ethnicity• Problems of measuring the concept• The measurement of ethnicity: theory• The measurement of ethnicity: collecting data

– Labour Force Survey – Census of Population– Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities– Home Office Citizenship Survey

• Criticisms of ethnic measurement• Exercise

Defining ethnicity

• Bulmer 1996: (Group identity)“An ethnic group is a collectivity within a larger population having real or putative common ancestry, memories of a shared past, and a cultural focus upon one or more symbolic elements which define the group’s identity, such as kinship, religion, language, shared territory, nationality or physical appearance. Members of an ethnic group are conscious of belonging to the group”

(Bulmer 1996)

Ctd…

• Smaje 1994 (Group difference)

“In its original usage to be ethnic was to be heathen. Deriving form the Greek word ethnos – nation – contemporary usage has often preserved the exclusionary sentiments implicit in this conflation of religion and nationality. To be ethnic is to be different, foreign and marginal: ‘not one of us’”.

(Smaje 1994)

Ethnic groups

• Main features:– Different from the majority of the population –

i.e. in Britain ‘White’ is the majority group.– Many different factors involved in belonging to

a group – i.e. language, religion– Family origins and generations– May vary over time – society / political – Therefore measurement of ethnic group is not

objective – based on self definition

Different ways of Measuring Ethnicity

• Most measures based on categorisations• Categorisations are based on a number of

considerations:• Country of Birth• Nationality• Language spoken at home• Parents country of birth / respondents country of birth• Skin Colour• National / Geographical Origin• Racial Group• Religion

Country of Birth

• The original question to determine ethnicity / origin

• Problematical because many people are born in one country and live in another for years

Nationality

• Implies that migrants cease to be a minority once they have citizenship of a country

• BUT it is clear that minority groups continue to have different cultures and disadvantage for years after entry.

Language spoken at home

• Effective for some minority groups

• Common question in national surveys, but mainly to match an interviewer to respondent

• But becoming less useful because of 2nd generation

Parents country of birth / country of birth

• Used as a proxy variable for ethnic group

• Usually asked alongside ethnic group question

• Again problems with intergenerational movement

• Many ethnic minorities are now born in UK

Skin Colour

• Majority referred to as ‘white’ in most questions

• Term ‘black’ problematic for obvious reason but also does not distinguish between groups e.g. Indians and Bangladeshis

• Used in conjunction with other terms

National / Geographical Origin

• May be used in terms such as West Indian• Often used in conjunction with skin colour – Black

African • But Africa is a big place: “I’m not African because it’s undermining that Africa is a

continent, you know what I mean, they’re saying ‘what's your ethnic background?’. African it’s actually wrong because for me, someone from Senegal to someone from South Africa, we got absolutely, I mean absolutely no ethnic, anything in common apart from the colour of our skin, end of line you know? Like I’ll go today to South Africa, I’ll be surprised how they live” (Scottish Executive 2005: 66)

Racial Group

• Race:

“1 Each of the major divisions of humankind, each having distinct physical characteristics. 2 Group of people, animals or plants connected by common descent” (Oxford Dictionary)

• Used in group terminology e.g. Chinese, Arab

Religion

• Very important defining characteristic for SOME minority groups

• Religion question added to the 2001 Census (voluntary)

• Does being part of the Muslim religion make you similar to other Muslims regardless of ethnic group?

Important considerations

• Ethnicity is not a static concept

• Ethnic group is a self defined category

• Cannot measure ethnicity using objective categories in the same way as gender / marital status etc

Modes of Interview

• HOW you ask about ethnicity will depend on:– Minority group that you are studying– Mode of the data collection– What you are doing with the data – Time / money and language

ONS Rules for ethnic classifications

1. Items should be grouped on a conceptual basis2. Categories should reflect and distinguish between

significant ethnic groups in place of study3. They should be stable over time4. They should be designed to be used in different modes

of collection5. They should be easily comparable with previous data /

statistics on the subject6. Every response to the question should fit into a

category

(Ethnic Group Statistics, ONS 2003:8)

Face to Face Interviews

• Preferred method BUT very expensive and time consuming.

• Should the interviewer be matched by ethnic group to the respondent?

• Finding a sample for large survey may be difficult for small minority groups

• Statistics are available for large surveys – e.g. Census / LFS

Postal / Self Completion

• Difficult to identify minority groups using this method

• Language and terminology problems

• McIver 1994 “Surveys of the general population using postal self completion questionnaires usually fail to collect the views of black people” (McIver 1994:22)

Questions and Categories

• Question order found to be important in testing by ONS

• Should ask about National Identity before ethnic group

• Order of categories is important and should be changed depending on where the survey is being carried out

• Response found to be sensitive to the way the question asked – show cards should be used.

Measurement of ethnicity in practice

• Census asked first direct question on ethnic group in 1991

• First survey to measure ethnic group 1976 National Dwelling and Housing Survey

• Labour Force Survey began using an ethnicity question continuously in 1979 – focus was on descent:

Labour Force Survey 1979 ‘From which of these groups listed on this card do you consider you

are descended?’

00 English, Welsh, Scottish or Irish01 Polish02 Italian03 Other European04 West Indian or Guyanese05 African06 Indian07 Pakistani08 Bangladeshi09 Arab10 Chinese11 Any other racial or ethnic group or of mixed racial descent12 No reply

Labour Force Survey

• Asks questions on Nationality, National Identity, Ethnicity, Language and Religion

• Very large sample so possible to identify minority groups

• The questions……

Census of Population

• Prior to 1991 only question on country of birth used since 1861

• Development work for a question on ethnicity began in 1975

• Aim was “to frame a satisfactory direct question on race and ethnicity involving self identification” (Bulmer 1996)

• See Bulmer 1996 for full account

Census ctd…

• Differences in questions in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

• The question in 1991 (first use)

• Issues:– No mixed category– Under count evident in 1991– Some groups not identified, eg Cypriot, Arab

Census 2001

• Main development was addition of a ‘mixed origin’ question

• Added voluntary question on religion

• Differences in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

• The questions….

FNSEM 1994

• 4th study in a series from PSI since 1960

• “..only large scale national studies designed exclusively with the aim of increasing our knowledge about the circumstances of ethnic minorities” (Modood et al 1997)

• Sample and key findings checked against 1991 census data

FNSEM ctd…

• Key topics:– Education– Employment– Housing– Income– Health– Harrassment– Ethnic identity

Methodology..• Nationally representative sample of 5196 people of Caribbean

and Asian origin and a comparison sample of 2867 white people.

• 1991 census used to break down electoral wards into three categories of ethnic minority population: high, medium and low

• Addresses then sampled from each area• Interviewers called at sampled addresses to identify any

members of minority groups living there or within 5 addresses either side

• One or two (if existing) adults at each address were selected for interview at random

• Interviewer from same minority sent to carry out the questionnaire – in English or the preferred language (half of the Asian respondents used a language other than English for the interview)

FNSEM Methodology ctd..

• Coverage confined to England and Wales• Asked about family origin;• “Our own view is that family origin is a better

basis for demographic analysis than self-assigned group membership. Family origin is in most cases a matter of fact …. Group membership is a matter of opinion” (Modood et al 1997:14)

• Used family origin as first criterion for assigning people to ethnic groups

• Asked about mixed heritage

The Questions…

• In Household Grid– Country of birth– Ethnic group – Family origins

Home Office Citizenship Survey

• Also known as People, Families and Community Survey 2001

• Asks questions to whole sample on racial discrimination and respect of other cultures

• The questions……

Qb Resources

Criticisms of ethnic statistics

• Smaje 1994:1. By providing attention to different ethnic groups, the

groups themselves become a problem

2. People do not always classify themselves in the same way

3. The concept of ethnicity changes over time

4. The notions of race, ethnicity and nationality are conflated together

5. The data categories are not refined enough to be useful

Last word from Len Cook…

Source: Ethnic Group Statistics 2003:4

Exercise!