As one of the highest-performing ethnic groups in terms of education and employment, British Indians overwhelmingly believe that their relationship with family members is key to helping them towards achieving their successes in life, according to a new report into modern British society.
‘A Portrait of Modern Britain: Ethnicity and Religion’, published by the think tank Policy Exchange this week, cautions that the diversity contained within the term “ethnic minority” is now so broad – both within each minority and between minorities – that considering ethnic minorities as a monolithic group for public policy purposes is now increasingly meaningless.
Categories such as “South Asian” do not only serve to mask over noteworthy economic and social disparities between Britain’s Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis – but also mean that very real forms of diversity within these sizeable groupings at times go unrecognised, the analysis finds.
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“We have rightly seen backlash against the term ‘BAME’ (black, Asian, Minority, Ethinic_ – but it applies equally to policies or schemes that target ‘ethnic minorities’ as a bloc, on the assumption that all ethnic minorities are similarly disadvantaged or face similar challenges,” it notes.
The report analyses the 2021 Census data and other statistical resources, combining this with polling conducted by Redfield and Wilton, a nationally representative sample of 2,000 people of all ethnicities with “booster” samples of 1,400 ethnic minority respondents – 200 each from the Black African, Black Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese and Mixed-Race ethnic groups.
“The ethnic group with the highest concentration of professional workers was Indian – with British Indians also having the highest rate of home ownership – with 71 per cent living in a property which is either owned outright or owned with a mortgage/loan or shared ownership,” it notes.
The think tank flags that the first ‘Portrait of Modern Britain’ was carried out for Policy Exchange in 2014 by two young researchers, including one by the name of Rishi Sunak – who would go on to become the country’s first British Indian Prime Minister.
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The report argues Britain has historically represented one of the most successful examples of a multi-ethnic democracy in the modern world – but that the summer’s far-right riots and previous intercommunal tensions between ethnic groups show that integration and social cohesiveness cannot be taken for granted. It argues that politicians, educators, and cultural institutions should not feel abashed in building upon a clear appetite for inclusive patriotism, whether that is doing more to celebrate the contribution of Commonwealth citizens to the World Wars, or by celebrating achievements of universal resonance, such as Britain’s industrial and scientific achievements or the proud British history of parliamentary democracy.
