Between Cultures: Continuity and Change in the Lives of Young Asians

225 Pages·1998·1.43 MB·English

by  Muhammad Anwar

Between Cultures
Asians are an integral part of Western society and Britain itself is now
permanently a multi-racial and multi-cultural society. Almost all young
Asians have been born and/or brought up in Britain and can no longer be
considered to be ‘immigrants’, ‘foreigners’ or ‘outsiders’. Using empirical
data, Between Cultures examines the position of young Asians in education,
employment and other fields as well as the attitudes and behaviour of
young Asians and Asian parents in relation to education, religion, the
family and marriage, and other cultural issues. It also considers the
responses of policy makers, professionals and the Asian communities to the
needs of young Asians and looks at the participation of young Asians in
the political process. Contextualising the material, it compares the
situation of young Asians with that of young whites from the same
geographical areas.
Between Cultures presents a unique and comprehensive analysis of the
changing situation of young Asians over the last twenty years. It will
appeal to students of anthropology, sociology and social policy.
Muhammad Anwar is Research Professor in the Centre for Research in
Ethnic Relations (CRER), University of Warwick, having formerly been
Director of CRER (1989–94) and Head of Research, Commission for
Racial Equality (1981–9).
Between Cultures
Continuity and Change in the
Lives of Young Asians
Muhammad Anwar
London and New York
First published 1998 by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
© 1998 Muhammad Anwar
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Anwar, Muhammad, 1945–Between cultures: continuity and change in the lives
of young Asians/Muhammad Anwar. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references
and index. 1. Asians—Great Britain—Social life and customs. 2. Great Britain—
Race relations. I. Title. DA125.A84A58 1998 305.895’041–dc21 97–18727 CIP
ISBN 0-203-01957-1 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-17305-8 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-04647-5 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-04648-3 (pbk)
To my father and in memory of my mother
Contents
List of tables vi
Preface x
Terminology xii
1 Introduction 1
2 Settlement patterns and characteristics 17
3 Education 29
4 Employment 53
5 Housing 73
6 Racial harassment and race relations 85
7 The family and marriage 99
8 Religious aspects and the mother tongue 117
9 Leisure, freedom and clothes 137
10 Responses of policy makers and professionals 147
11 Community responses and political participation 157
12 Conclusions 179
Appendix: surveys 191
References 193
Index 201
Tables
1.1 Immigration from the New Commonwealth, 1971–83: all 5
acceptances for settlement
1.2 South Asian estimated population in England and Wales, 7
1951–81
2.1 Ethnic minorities in Britain by region, 1991 18
2.2 Ethnic minority groups in Britain, 1991 19
2.3 South Asian population in regions, 1991 20
2.4 Regional distribution of Asians, 1991 20
2.5 Highest concentrations of South Asian groups in local 21
authorities (LAs), 1991
2.6 Age composition of Asians and whites, 1991 23
2.7 Family type with dependent children, South Asian groups and 25
whites, 1991
3.1 Educational qualifications of ethnic groups 33
3.2 Highest qualifications of Pakistanis and other ethnic groups 34
(16–24 age group), 1988–90
3.3 Year 11 pupils achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A-C by 35
ethnic group and gender, Birmingham, 1994 and 1995
3.4 Waltham Forest: pupil attainment survey, 1994 and 1995 35
3.5 Higher-level qualifications: Asian ethnic groups and whites in 36
Britain, 1991
3.6 Racial discrimination in schools 37
3.7 Teachers’ views of provision made in school for multi-cultural 42
education
3.8 Teachers’ satisfaction with provisions for teaching ethnic 43
minority pupils
3.9 Teachers’ opinions of policies and practices needed to meet the 45
requirements of a multi-racial, multi-cultural school
3.10 Acceptance rates of applicants to universities with two or more 50
A-levels, 1991
3.11 Average A-level scores of applicants to universities by ethnic 51
group, 1992
3.12 Asians and other ethnic groups in higher education, 1994 51
vii
3.13 Responses to AUT questionnaire 52
4.1 Asian parents’ ambitions and children’s achievements in 54
relation to work, 1975
4.2 Comparison of parents’ own and parents’ view of child’s 55
aspirations on finishing full-time education
4.3 Career aspirations of Asian and white young people after 56
finishing school, college or university
4.4 What actually happened on leaving full-time education 56
compared with what was claimed to have been wanted
4.5 Advice given to Asian and white young people on leaving 57
school
4.6 Unemployment among Asian and white young people (16– 59
24), 1991
4.7 Unemployment among Asian and white groups, 1991 61
4.8 Perception of employers’ racial prejudice 61
4.9 Comparison of Asian and white young people’s and parents’ 63
attitudes: extent of prejudice amongst employers
4.10 ‘The fact that Asian women don’t go out to work is more to do 67
with their lack of English than with tradition’
4.11 ‘More Asian women would go out to work if they did not have 68
to mix with men’
5.1 Housing tenure of Asians and whites, 1991 74
5.2 Housing tenure by ethnic group, 1982 and 1994 75
5.3 Types of accommodation: Asian groups and whites, 1982 and 77
1994
5.4 Tenure and ethnic group of household head, Birmingham, 79
1991
5.5 Household size, amenities, overcrowding and central heating 80
by ethnic group, Birmingham, 1991
6.1 Reported racial incidents in Britain, 1989–94 87
6.2 Extent to which racial attacks are a problem 88
6.3 Experience of racial attacks 89
6.4 Racial attacks and racial insults: beliefs and trends 90
6.5 Comparison of young Asians’ and Asian parents’ opinion of 90
police protection
6.6 Asian parents’ opinion of relations between police and local 91
community
6.7 ‘Black and Asian people can rely on the police to protect them’ 92
6.8 Self-defence groups to protect themselves 93
6.9 Racial harassment in the previous twelve months, by gender 93
and ethnic group
viii
6.10 ‘Life in Britain improved for our ethnic group’: Asian sample, 95
1974, and 1982 comparison
6.11 Young Asians’ and Asian parents’ opinion on race relations 95
7.1 Asian and white family types, 1991 102
7.2 Relationship of heads of ‘secondary’ family units in two or 103
more family households to the head of household, Asian and
white, 1991
7.3 Proportion of family units aged less than 60 living with their 103
parents, Asian and white
7.4 ‘Asian children have more respect for their parents than white 105
children do’
7.5 ‘It is better to marry someone from your own group’ 107
7.6 ‘Arranged marriages still work very well within the Asian 108
community and should be continued’
7.7 ‘More and more young people will rebel against arranged 113
marriages’
7.8 Parental involvement in choice of marriage partner 114
7.9 Parents’ decision over marriage partner, by religious group and 114
age
8.1 ‘Asian parents get very worried about sending their children to 118
predominantly white schools’
8.2 ‘There is not enough taught about traditional Asian culture in 119
schools’
8.3 Religious activity of young Asians and young whites 120
8.4 Religious activity of Asian parents and young Asians 121
8.5 Importance of religion 122
8.6 Attendance at religious service 123
8.7 ‘Asian parents would like to send their daughters to single-sex 124
schools’
8.8 Preference for single-sex schooling for one’s daughters and sons 126
8.9 Preference for schools of one’s own religion 127
8.10 Support for religious schools within the state sector 128
8.11 ‘I find that I can talk and understand English as well as my 130
mother tongue’, 1975
8.12 ‘I find that I can talk and understand English as well as my 131
mother tongue’, 1983
8.13 ‘Children should be taught the language of the family’s area of 132
origin’
8.14 Main languages spoken, 1992 133
8.15 Persons who speak and write a non-European language in 134
Britain
ix
8.16 Use of Asian languages 135
9.1 ‘I want to be with other Asians for most of my spare time’ 138
9.2 ‘I enjoy living in an area where there are a lot of other Asian 139
families’
9.3 ‘If I had teenage daughters I would not let them go to any of 141
the places where white girls go to in this area’
9.4 ‘I do not see anything wrong with Asian girls wearing Western 143
clothes’
9.5 ‘Most Asian girls would like to wear more Western clothes’ 144
9.6 The wearing of Asian clothes 145
10.1 ‘Ethnic minority and white youth face different disadvantages 148
and difficulties’
10.2 Differing needs of ethnic minority and white youth 149
10.3 Projects or centres for ethnic minority youth 153
11.1 ‘Asian organisations do not recognise the needs of young Asians’ 158
11.2 ‘Asian organisations do not do much to help the problems of 159
young Asians’
11.3 Asian candidates representing main political parties, 1992 169
general election
11.4 Asian councillors in London boroughs, 1986 171
11.5 London boroughs with five or more Asian councillors 172
11.6 Asian and Afro-Caribbean councillors in England by gender, 173
1992