Ethnicity and neighbourhood attainment in England and Wales : a study of second generations' spatial integration

Abstract

Ethnic minorities' spatial concentration and their predominance in deprived areas are two well‐known patterns that characterise Britain's social landscape. However, little is known about ethnic minorities' opportunities for spatial integration, especially those of the second generations. Using a large‐scale longitudinal data set of England and Wales covering a 40‐year period (1971–2011), in combination with aggregated census data, the article examines ethnic inequalities in access to neighbourhoods with varying levels of ethnic concentration and deprivation. On equality of individual, social origin, and childhood neighbourhood characteristics, second generation ethnic minorities are less likely than White British individuals to reside in “whiter” and less deprived neighbourhoods. For most minorities, these differences reduce among those with higher education and a higher social class, in line with weak place stratification/ethnic enclave. Growing up in areas with high ethnic concentration and high deprivation has a particularly strong “retention effect” among second generation Asians. The study shows that ethnic spatial segregation is, in part, the product of time‐persisting ethnic inequalities in the access to neighbourhoods and that these inequalities are conditioned both by childhood and by adult resources.