Ethnic Residential Segregation and Assimilation in British Towns and Cities: a Comparison of those claiming Single and Du-al Ethnic Identities

Abstract

There is considerable public debate over the degree of residential segregation of members of ethnic minority groups in British urban areas. Some claim that this is increasing, others that with economic and social assimilation members of those minority groups are increasingly moving away from the areas of initial concentration. The implication is that the more assimilated are also the least segregated. To test whether this is the case, data from the 2001 British census are used to explore whether those who claim a mixed or dual ethnic identity – and who are assumed to be more assimilated than those who identify with one of the minority groups only – are less segregated residentially. The evidence overwhelmingly sustains that argument that they are.