The Socioeconomic Geography of Ethnic Groups in Two Northern British Cities

For the first time the 1991 British Census has not only provided data on ethnicity but has also cross-classified ethnic status by a variety of socioeconomic indicators. This paper is an exploration of the patterns revealed by these new data. After an introduction to the subject of the paper in section 1, section 2 is a discussion of the issue of ethnic group identification and measurement. In section 3 the spatial distribution of six ethnic groups is outlined: Whites, Blacks, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and Other-ethnicities in two northern British cities—Leeds and Bradford. Nonwhite groups all show a familiar inner-city concentration, but with some interesting locational differences. The degree of change over the period 1981–91 is examined by using synthetic estimates of ethnic group for 1981 based on country of birth converted into ethnic group via conditional probabilities of ethnicity given country of birth. The degree of spatial change and dispersion is evaluated. Sections 4 and 5 are examinations of the characteristics of each ethnic group according to thirty indicators grouped into six domains: demographic, household, employment, education, social class, and housing/consumption. The rationale for indicator extraction and use is described and the degree of reliance which can be placed in the statistics is assessed in section 4. The differences in profile between ethnic groups are established at city level and then the pattern of variation across wards in each city is described in section 5. A fascinating picture unfolds of disadvantage and advantage across the ethnic groups which establishes their sociogeographic position in the two northern city societies.