The family structures of ethnic minority groups in Britain

4. Diversity and change

So, just as `modern individualism' contributes substantially to family poverty among Caribbeans, `old-fashioned values' play a similar role among Bangladeshis and Pakistanis.

Perhaps there is no contradiction in this. It can be argued that the disadvantage, the high rates of poverty, are a consequence of each minority group's difference from the standard white pattern, rather than from their position on a single scale running from old-fashioned values at one end to modern individualism at the other. It was no special disadvantage to have one earner and many children when most white families were like that. It will not be a special disadvantage to be a single parent when most white families are like that. It is just that the minority patterns do not fit the current standard mould.

On the other hand, it might be argued that a standard mould no longer exists. An interpretation of the changing patterns of family formation among white people in Northern Europe, summarised at the beginning of this paper, is that increased diversity within that ethnic group provides such a wide range of choices that there is no longer a `recognised thing to do'.

The single scale running from `old-fashioned values' to `modern individualism' may nevertheless be more helpful as a base for interpreting ethnic variations. Of course there are all sorts of detailed differences which do not quite fit the model. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that:

• White people in Britain, and elsewhere in northern/protestant Europe, have substantially widened the range of family options available, especially to young people in a transitional stage between living with their parents and living with their own husbands/wives and children. This can be seen as a significant shift along the continuum from old-fashioned values to modern individualism.

• Indians and African Asians are further back along the old-fashioned values end of the continuum: there is a strong emphasis on the traditional marriage; the continued interest in such practices as arranged marriages helps to emphasise the primacy of family over personal preferences. On the other hand, Indians and African Asians are indistinguishable from white families on some measures, and these groups are probably converging rapidly on the majority position - away from old-fashioned values, if not positively towards modern individualism.

• Bangladeshis and Pakistanis adopt the practices most consistent with the old - fashioned values model. This is especially visible in the proportion of women remaining outside the labour market, and the size of their families. This paper has found signs that these groups, too, are moving away from their exceptional position, though it is clear that such movement involves the reform of marriage rather than its rejection. The very strong emphasis on a particular set of family standards in Islamic teachings may mean that the pace of change will be slower among Muslims than among Sikh and Hindus. (The parallel may be between catholic and protestant churches in Europe.)

• If the white direction of change lies from old-fashioned values towards modern individualism, and South Asians are behind the trend, Caribbeans are well out in front. The Caribbean family, in the traditional and formal sense of a Caribbean man married to a Caribbean woman, may be dying out. Like all the other groups, they are moving away from old fashioned values towards modern individualism. The relative acceptability of non-marital and non-residential partnerships may be traced to West Indian cultural traditions. But whereas the South Asians' movement along that scale can be described as a convergence on the patterns common in the society they have recently joined, Caribbeans are moving away from, not towards, the standard white family structure (though that is moving rapidly too).

So the ethnic groups compared in this paper have one thing in common - they are all moving in the same direction. Of course, the fact that all groups are moving in approximately the same direction does not mean that there is anything inevitable about the trend - that it will affect all groups equally, or that it will carry on forever. More systematic research on the nature and direction of change is a key priority.

The current family structures of Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, on the one hand, and Caribbeans, on the other, could hardly be more different from each other. This provides plenty of scope for moralising, from a white perspective, about the subordination of women to men and family (in one case) and irresponsible parenting (in the other). These issues are better sorted out within the relevant communities, rather than on the basis of a single (white-dominated) set of values. Nevertheless, both of the exceptional groups face the possibility of internal conflict, between fathers and daughters, between husbands and wives, or between lovers, if within-group norms remain or become too widely differentiated from those in Britain as a whole. Moreover, as the analysis in this paper has shown, the family structures at both ends of the OFV-MI continuum are associated with poverty.

minority family economic polarisation

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