ethnicity

• immigration since 1950s has helped increase ethnic diversity and changing family patterns
• berthoud - modern individualism

  • argued British culture is becoming more individualistic, family life is changing across ethnic groups
  • compared family patterns amount three ethnic groups
  • British south asians, black British carribbeans, white British
  • found despite differences between these groups, still moving in the same direction, away from traditional values and towards modern individualism
• British south asian

  • extended families, arranged families, three generation households
  • higher rates of marriage, low rates of cohabitation and divorce
  • bhatti - high value placed on 'izzat' - family honour
  • traditional family values
• white British

  • reconstituted families, lone-parent, small family size, cohabitation
  • low birth rates, high divorce rates,
  • intermarriage with other ethnic groups common
• black British carribbean

  • lone-parent, high rates of divorce, intermarriage, low fertility rates
  • intermarriage with British partners
• bhatti - izzat 


  • changing attitudes among the young
  • sons choosing to marry out go their ethnic group
  • older generation reinforce traditional family and gender roles - motherhood more important than employment
  • high value placed on 'izzat' - family honour
• changes in asian families

  • rate of lone parenthood - lone parent Pakistani families increased from 10% to 17%
• qureshi et al

  • now more growing acceptance of divorce
  • conflicts between British born Pakistanis and Pakistan- born couples e.g cultural differences, delays in immigration
  • became more risky to arrange marriages between them
  • shows how British Pakistani families becoming less distinctive
  • maybe adapting to western cultures
• berthoud - black British families

  • key feature of family life were very low marriage rates and high divorce rates
  • believes it is a continuation of carribbean patterns where more matrifocal households with the female relying on other nearby female kin
• mirza - independence of black women

  • high rate of lone parent families reflect the high value that black women place on their independence
  • leading towards modern individualism and personal choice
• census 2011

  • asian - most in cohabiting/married relationships (52.6%)
  • black - one person household (31.7%)
  • white - cohabiting/married (52.1%)
  • mixed - one person household (35.2%)
  • other - cohabiting/household (43.6%)
• Reynolds - fluidity in black-carribbean families

  • greater fluidity
  • more matrifocal families, LATs
  • visiting relationships - male still actively involved in Childs life but does not live with the family
  • traditional family ideas in Barbados and Antigua