September 2013
‘Britishness’ and diversity
An integrated and confident nation?
A briefing paper on national identity
and civic engagement
Introduction
Britain is becoming more diverse in many ways, not least in terms of ethnicity. The 2011
Census confirmed how this growing diversity was having different impacts across the
country – for example with London likely to become a ‘majority minority’ city much earlier
than many had predicted.
Politicians are responding to this growth in diversity, by trying to create a new narrative
around national identity and belonging. This is partly about reaching out to new groups
and building cohesion at the local level, but also because a confident and collective
national identity can matter for national performance in a competitive global marketplace.
Some commentators and politicians are concerned that increasing ethnic and other forms
of diversity is weakening the sense of national identity and the ability of people to work
together and make sacrifices for common national interests.1
This briefing paper is intended to inform debates about the impact of growing diversity on
national identity and civic engagement. It combines existing evidence and comment with
new analysis from the Understanding Society survey. It briefly covers three topics from a
diversity perspective:
How we feel about our nation (people’s sense of national identity)
Our involvement in civic life (patterns of civic and political engagement)
The kind of communities we want to live in (patterns of place attachment and drivers
of residential mobility)
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National Identity
Almost one in ten of those in England felt ‘neither
English nor British’. Black-Caribbean and Mixed
groups were the least likely ethnic minority groups
to fall into this category, with Black-African and other
groups the most likely.
National identity is a broad concept that is based on subjective
feeling rather than objective status. Levels of overall national
identity remain high but there has been a decline in British
identity in England and Scotland in the late 20th Century
and a rise in separate English and Scottish identities.2 The
percentage of people in England who thought of themselves
as primarily or exclusively British declined sharply from 63%
in 1992 to 44% in 1999, but it has remained relatively stable
since then (remaining at 43% in 2012).3
Understanding Society also asks about the ‘importance’
of being British, which is a slightly different concept to
formal national identity.8 Those of White ethnicity, on
average, find being British less important than those who
self-classified as Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black
Caribbean, Black African ethnicities. Those who reported
an ‘English only’ national identity were subsequently just
as likely as those with a ‘British only’ national identity to
report that being British was important to them.
The option of reporting more than one national identity
makes it difficult to create neat categories, and it is
possible for people to have dual or even multiple identities.4
Our analysis of Understanding Society shown in Figure 1
takes this into account:
Other research has found weaker feelings of belonging
to Britain being associated with age (with young people
less strongly attached), being born overseas in a nonCommonwealth country, a shorter length of stay and
lower income and social class.9
About two-fifths of those of White ethnicity in
England reported having an ‘English only’ national
identity, and a quarter saw themselves as having a
combined ‘English-British’ identity. Other research
has investigated the overlap between British and
English identity showing a high degree of ‘fuzziness’
between the two identities.5 In our analysis we found
no significant difference in having an ‘English only’
identity by income.
Minority groups were most likely to identify with being
‘British only’, confirming analysis of the 2011 Census6
and other analysis of Understanding Society data.7
Civic and political engagement
A ‘civic’ basis for collective national identity offers a potential
alternative to traditional ‘ethnic’ perspectives, as well as being
important for the health of civil society. We have therefore
analysed a number of indicators of civic and political
engagement, and four of these are shown in Figure 2 .
Figure 1: National identity among ethnic groups in England
23
40
52
61
60
55
6
4
6
2
43
21
7
5
11
25
25
30
40
20
31
7
3
8
6
White
Mixed
Indian
British only
39
6
4
6
6
22
23
7
5
6
8
10
9
3
Bangladeshi
Black
Caribbean
Black African
Other
Total
Pakistani
English only
15
6
50
44
23
18
English-British/ English- British-other
Neither English nor British
Other
Source: Understanding Society Wave 1
Note: White includes other white backgrounds such as Irish and Australian
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Figure 2: Political engagement among ethnic groups
100
80
60
40
20
0
Agree/strongly agree that most
people in the local area usually vote
White
Mixed
Voted in the last election
Indian
Pakistani
Bangladeshi
Very/fairly interested in politics
Black Caribbean
Very/fairly satisfied with democracy
in GB
Black African
Other
Total
Source: Understanding Society Wave 2
Almost two fifths (18%) of all people had actively volunteered
in the previous year. Income is a major factor associated with
volunteering but even after controlling for age, gender, income
and education we found those of White ethnicity were more
likely to have volunteered in the last 12 months than those
of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black African and other
ethnicities (but not than those of Black Caribbean ethnicities).
In terms of voting, Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups were
most likely to vote and also are most likely to agree that
voting is a social norm (i.e. most people usually vote). By
contrast, Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups have a lower
interest in politics with Black groups having highest levels
of interest. Most ethnic minority groups display a more
positive view about democracy in Britain and voting as a
social norm than those of White ethnicity.
Residential mobility and local
cohesion
Investigating patterns of residential mobility is complex, but
a comprehensive review found that the overall population
picture of ethnic minority groups is characterised by
growth, dispersal and mixing.10 The latest Census showed
that the ethnic minority population has increased rapidly
and neighbourhood residential integration as a whole
increased between 2001 and 2011.11 Despite this, the
segregation of the white majority increased marginally,
and there are local variations, with many of Britain’s more
segregated towns found in the North.
Ongoing research, using Understanding Society and other
data, is looking in more detail at whether there has been a
disproportionate shift of white British people out of diverse
areas. Emerging findings suggest that when White British
people move, they are more likely to opt for white areas than
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minorities – but this may be because they move towards
friends and family or prefer different cultural amenities, all
of which draw whites and minorities to different areas.12
Evidence shows that, at a national level, people’s overall
sense of belonging to their immediate neighbourhood
remains high and stable, as do local perceptions of
cohesion – 86% of people agreed that people of different
backgrounds get on well together in a recent survey.13
More detailed analysis of these survey sources found
that minority groups were more likely to agree with this
than others. Evidence from a range of studies suggests
attitudes to diversity are more tolerant in mixed areas –
for example areas where 5% or more of the households
were ethnic minority households, the greater the
likelihood that people felt ethnic differences would be
respected.14
Summary
This short paper draws together some of the evidence
about the potential impact of diversity on our collective
identity, social cohesion and belonging. It highlights a
potential disconnect between ethnic minorities identifying
themselves as British and white people identifying as
English. We also found only relatively minor variations in
civic and particularly political engagement – suggesting a
common sense of ‘civic’ duty amongst all groups. Finally,
there is no strong evidence yet that minority groups are
becoming increasingly geographically segregated or that
there is a general decline in perceptions of cohesion.
Matters of ethnic and national identity are complex, and
require careful and considered research to disentangle.
Understanding Society study should be used as one of
a number of valuables sources of data for such research.
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References
Goodhart, D (2013), The British dream: successes and
failure of post-war immigration, London: Atlantic Books
2
Heath, A. and Roberts, J. (2008) British Identity: Its
Sources and Possible Implications for Civic Attitudes
and Behaviour. Research report for Lord Goldsmith’s
Citizenship Review [online]. Available from: http://
webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.justice.
gov.uk/docs/british-identity.pdf
3
British Social Attitudes 30, Figure 6.3
4
Foresight Future Identities (2013) Final Project Report.
The Government Office for Science, London
5
Wyn Jones et al (2013) England and its two nations,
London: IPPR. Also, this is covered in BSA 30 (Table 6.3)
6
ESRC Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (2013) Who
feels British? The relationship between ethnicity,
religion and national identity in England.
7
Nandi, A and Platt, L How Diverse is the UK? In S
McFall ed Understanding Society: Findings 2012,
Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of
Essex
1
The question asks “Most people who live in the UK
may think of themselves as being British in some way.
On a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 means ‘not at all important’
and 10 means ‘extremely important’, how important is
being British to you?”
9
Heath, A. and Roberts [ibid]
10
Nissa Finney and Ludi Simpson (2009) ‘Sleepwalking
to segregation’? Challenging myths about race and
migration, Bristol: Polity Press
11
ESRC Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (2013) Has
neighbourhood ethnic segregation increased?.
12
Harris, G and Kaufman, E Exit, Voice and
Accomodation? White working class response
to ethnic change in Britain. http://www.sneps.net/
research-interests/whiteworkingclass
13
Findings from the Community Life/Citizenship Survey
http://communitylife.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/index.html
14
Communities and Local Government (2011)
Community Spirit in England: A report on the 2009-10
Citizenship Survey.
8
Understanding Society is an innovative world-leading study about 21st century UK life and how it is
changing. The study is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), with scientific
leadership from the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), University of Essex. It captures
important information about the social and economic circumstances, attitudes, behaviours and health of
people living in thousands of households. The study contains the largest sample of ethnic minorities of
any long-term UK survey, and has questions specifically to inform research on identity, culture and values.
NatCen Social Research is carrying out the data collection for the first five waves of the study.
Author and Acknowledgements
A number of colleagues at NatCen and ISER
have contributed to this briefing, with particular
thanks to Sarah Kunz, Chris Lord, Linda Maynard
and Raj Patel. Views are responsibility of the author,
Kirby Swales.
Contact the author at [email protected]
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