Skip to content

Publication

Patterns of minority and majority identification in a multicultural society

Publication type

Journal Article

Authors

Publication date

June 1, 2015

Summary

There has been increasing investigation of the national and ethnic identification of minority populations in Western societies and how far they raise questions about the success or failure of multicultural societies. Much of the political and academic discussion has, however, been premised on two assumptions. First, that ethnic minority and national identification are mutually exclusive, and, second, that national identification forms an overarching majority identity that represents consensus values. In this paper, using a large-scale nationally representative UK survey with a varied set of identity questions, and drawing on an extension of Berry's acculturation framework, we empirically test these two assumptions. We find that, among minorities, strong British national and minority identities often coincide and are not on an opposing axis. We also find that adherence to a British national identity shows cleavages within the white majority population. We further identify variation in these patterns by generation and political orientation.

Volume and page numbers

Volume: 38 , p.2 -2

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2015.1077986

ISSN

1419870

Subjects

Link

Notes

Albert Sloman Library Periodicals *restricted to Univ. Essex registered users*

Cid:523385

Email newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter