In this article, we examine the political socialization process in immigrant families based on the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS). We find that international migration disrupts the ...intergenerational transmission of political engagement: associations between voting, political interest, and parent and child socioeconomic status are weaker in immigrant families than in families without a migration background. In particular, the voting behavior of immigrants and their children in particular is only partially explained by standard models of political socialization. In contrast, characteristics specific to the international migration process, including sending country experiences, characteristics of the migration journey, and the pathway to citizenship are critical determinants of voting for immigrant parents, and through political socialization, for their UK-raised children.
Explanatory theories of electoral fraud are usually developed for new and failing democracies. However, while rarer, electoral fraud does happen in advanced democracies. Because data on fraud in ...advanced democracies are scarce, single instances of fraud are studied in isolation and offer very little generalisability. This study uses a unique comparative dataset of 35 in-depth, semi-structured interviews from eight locations, only half of which experienced allegations of fraud. We show that theories of why and how fraud happens in developing democracies can be extended to an advanced democracy. We also provide a detailed description of two micro-mechanisms, which facilitate fraud taking place and thus provide a causal link between the structural vulnerability to fraud and the direct opportunities for fraud to take place. The case study of Britain focuses mostly on the biraderi structures within the British South Asian communities, but we offer ways in which these structures generalise more broadly.
This paper explores the potential impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on people's perceptions of cohesion in their local communities; particularly for vulnerable groups/communities, such as ethnic ...minorities or those living in highly deprived neighbourhoods. To this end, we examine both trends over time in overall levels of cohesion as well as patterns of positive and negative changes experienced by individuals using nationally representative data from Understanding Society Study. We test whether rates of positive-/negative-change in cohesion over the pandemic-period differed across socio-demographic groups and neighbourhood characteristics. These trends are then compared to patterns of positive-/negative-change over time experienced in earlier periods to test whether the pandemic was uniquely harmful. We show that the overall levels of social cohesion are lower in June 2020 compared to all of the examined pre-pandemic periods. The decline of perceived-cohesion is particularly high in the most deprived communities, among certain ethnic minority groups and among the lower-skilled. Our findings suggest that the pandemic put higher strain on social-resources among vulnerable groups and communities, who also experienced more negative changes in other areas of life.
ePUB and EPDF available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This book illustrates life through the COVID-19 pandemic for ethnic minorities in Britain. Drawing from the Evidence for Equality ...National Survey (EVENS), the book presents new evidence of ethnic inequalities and sheds new light on underlying racisms, opening them up to debate as crucial social concerns. Written by leading international experts in the field, this is a must-read for anyone interested in contemporary ethnic inequalities and racism from academics and policy makers to voluntary and community sector organisations.
This article explores the relationship between ethnic structure of local areas, anti-immigrant sentiment and Brexit vote among White British in England. We focus on two indicators of ethnic ...structure: ethnic minority outgroup share and minority–majority segregation. Our findings suggest that local minority share plays a key role in shaping anti-immigrant sentiment and Brexit support. However, how it affects these outcomes is conditional on levels of local residential segregation. It is only residents living in high minority share areas that are residentially segregated who report higher anti-immigrant sentiment and Brexit support. In fact, living in high minority share areas that are residentially integrated appears to improve attitudes and reduce Brexit support.
This paper explores the relationship between neighbourhood level density of civil society organisations (CSOs), diversity, and deprivation. We compare the UK and Sweden, two countries with different ...civil society traditions and welfare state regimes. We use data on formal civil society organisations to examine whether diverse neighbourhoods have lower levels of civil society infrastructure. In the UK, contrary to what could be expected from Putnam's assertion that diversity has a negative effect on trust, thus limiting civil society activities at the neighbourhood level, we observe a positive relationship between the density of CSOs and diversity. In Sweden, we find different patterns. First, we observe a negative correlation between CSO density and diversity. Second, we find lower density of formal CSOs in areas with high diversity and high economic disadvantage and higher density in areas characterised by low diversity and high disadvantage.
Sufficient coverage of all key subgroups of the population that the survey aims to represent is one of the important aspects of the representativeness of the sample. There are, however, different ...understandings of coverage (Kruskal and Mosteller 1979). In this report we look at the Understanding Society sample coverage in relation to two aspects: first, the extent to which the sample mirrors the UK population in terms of some key characteristics; and second, the extent to which the sample of particular subgroups is large enough to enable meaningful analysis. In particular, we discuss the coverage of hard-to-reach groups, known to be commonly under-represented in surveys.Â
This chapter looks at the ways in which ethnic identity is expressed using data produced by the Evidence for Equality National Survey (EVENS). It first examines how people describe their ethnicity in ...their own words and describes the types of identities that are not currently captured in standardised ethnicity classifications. It also examines the prevalence of non-standardised ways of describing ethnicity across standardised ethnic groupings and reflects on the potential reasons for the existing differences. It further looks at the importance of ethnic and religious identities for people across ethnic and religious backgrounds, and provides an overview of how often people engage in practices relating to their ethnicity and/or religion, such as the food they eat, clothes they wear and/or participating in more general ethnic specific activities. Finally, the chapter also considers how much people from different ethnic groups feel that they belong to British, English, Scottish and Welsh societies.
This chapter examines ethnic differences in levels of political and civic engagement, using data produced by the Evidence for National Equality Survey (EVENS). It begins with the following question: ...how much trust do people have in different levels of government in relation to pandemic management? In particular, it looks at interethnic differences in the levels of trust in the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and local mayors. It then considers the levels of political interest across ethnic groups. Our findings suggest that people from most ethnic minority backgrounds tend to express more political trust and more political interest than people from a White British background. The chapter also compares patterns of political party preferences across ethnic groups and across England, Scotland and Wales. Finally, it gives an overview of the very strong level of support towards the Black Lives Matter movement, although the extent of this support varied across ethnic groups.