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Sociology
Topic 5 – Ethnic Identities
Ethnicity
 Decide what ethnicity means – define it
 Decide which categories may be useful for dividing the UK
according to ethnicity
 Do you have a strong sense of your own ethnic identity?
What is it? Where does it come from?
What is Ethnic Identity?
A sense of belonging to a people group who
recognise that they are culturally distinct
Language
As well as speaking
English some ethnic
groups may continue
to speak the language
associated with their
heritage.
Common Descent (race?)
“Say it loud I’m
black and I’m
proud”
James Brown
Shared Sense of History
I am Jewish
because…..
A Common Religion?
What are the three main ethnic groups
in Britain today? And what percentage
of the population fall into each
category?
For AS sociology there are 3 ethnic
groups:
 White British 90%
 British Asian 5%
 Black British 3%
(mixed 2%)
How can we express our ethnic
identity?
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_IlY_DoP1M
 Symbolic markers – what are the symbolic markers let you
know the ethnicity of this mouse?
Who comes from which ethnic
background?
Ethnic Minorities:
Black British:
British Asian:
Ethnic majority:
oWhite British:
Symbolic markers – is a fist bump
‘black’?
 Clare Alexander – the walk,
the talk, the dress …’the art
of being black’
 On the June 6 edition of Fox
News' America's Pulse, host
E.D. Hill teased an upcoming
discussion on a gesture Sen.
Barack Obama shared with his
wife, Michelle, saying, "A fist
bump? A pound? A terrorist fist
jab? The gesture everyone
seems to interpret differently."
A "terrorist fist jab"? Seriously?
How are we socialised into our ethnic
identity?
 Work with a partner to decide which agent of socialisation
you think would be most influential in terms of ethnicity. (hint:
this may change with each ethnic group)
British Asians
Which agents of socialisation may be strong influences
for British Asians?
Jacobson
 Religion – Islam
 Exclusion – inclusion
 Which other studies suggest religion may be more
important to British Asians than other ethnic
groups? (p76)
Ghuman - Family
 British Asian families are on average bigger (3.8 kids)
 Parenting is more traditional 




Obedience
Loyalty
Hierarchical
Patriarchal
Religious
 BUT…Anwar – conflict in families
 Drury – girls / boys
Black British
Which agents of socialisation may be strong
influences for black British?
Sewell – black, working class,
inner-city boys
Family
Media
Peers
Education
White British
 90% of population!…its hard to discern specifics about this
group since they are such a huge group.
 Sociology is often more revealing about minorities than the
majority.
Multiculturalism ?
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9s5zmOuVmc
Changing ethnic identities ?
How is ethnic identity
changing?
 Assimilation
 Hybrid identities
 Cultural navigation
 Dual identity / white masks
 Hyper ethnicity
Assimilation
 This means taking on and accepting British culture
 When large-scale migration first occurred in the 1950s many
thought this would happen, such as Patterson
 Evaluation: people do not want to lose their culture so it is
better to think of Britain as multicultural
Hybrid Identities
Les Back found significant
levels of interethnic friendship
amongst young people from
different backgrounds (white,
Asian and black) on two south
London estates. They were
experimenting with styles and
symbols which involved them
borrowing from other groups.
He felt this was evidence of a
blurring of the lines of race.
Cultural Navigation
Roger Ballard uses the
concept of cultural
navigation to describe how
young Asians manage to
‘switch’ between Asian family
life and mainstream culture.
He thinks most handle this
without problems.
Johal (1998) – Dual Identity
Johal makes a similar
point when he argues that
young Asians often adopt
Asian identity and a British
one.
He argues that they adopt
a ‘white mask’ in order to
interact with white peers at
school or college.
However, he argues that
they can remove this white
mask when they want to
emphasise their cultural
difference.
Dual Identity
 Dietary rules
 Relationships
 Alcohol
 Religion
 Dress
 Language
 Culture (music, film etc)







Hyper ethnicity
 Members of ethnic minority groups may face racial prejudice
and discrimination
 This may cause some to adopt even stronger ethnic
identities, using their culture as a protection in a hostile
society
 Examples might be Rastafarians and Muslims wearing
niqabs
Content analysis
 Listen and read the lyrics to the song Fight The Power by
Public Enemy.
 How might this song influence black identities?
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_t13-0Joyc
Modood et al - Findings for Asian
Identity
Some traditions seem to be
maintained:
For example:
 The extended family
 Persistence of Asian languages
 Arranged marriages
 Importance of religion
BUT evidence of change in 2nd /
3rd generations
For example:
 Greater choice in marital partner
 English as first language for
some groups (esp. for those from
Indian background)
 Religion remains centrally
important for Muslim
communities but evidence of
some weakening amongst Sikhs
and Hindus.
 Recognition of the huge diversity
of Asian identities
Modood et al – Findings For Black
Identity
 There is no single black
identity
 Protestant Christianity
(especially Pentecostalism)
remains important to the 1st
generation.
 Patois not often used by 1st
generation
 Few identified themselves as
British because of perceived
racist assumptions
 ‘West Indian’ (1st),
Afro-Caribbean
(2nd), ‘Black’
 Secularisation –
less influential on
the young
 Resurgence
amongst 2nd
generation
Charlotte Butler (1995)– Young
Muslim Women
 Found evidence of a diversity of identities amongst 3rd
generation Muslim girls.
 These girls were adapting their religion to fit into western
culture
Postmodernism
 How do you think a Postmodernist theorist would analyse
contemporary ethnic identity?
 How might other Sociologists challenge this?