South Asians In Britain Research Articles

South Asians in Britain

Great Britain's falling birth rate and aging population make immigration a matter of urgent concern. The post-World War II period has seen a marked rise in people originating in countries of South Asia, once part of colonial Britain, now resident in the major cities of the country. This article discusses research findings in the field of acculturation, identity and psychological wellbeing among first and second generation South Asians living in Britain. It focuses mainly on Indian (Punjabi, Sikh and Gujarati Hindu) and Pakistani groups, commencing with a brief overview of South Asian immigration to Britain. The article examines aspects of psychological acculturation that are most important for the two generations. These include: acculturation attitudes; language usage and proficiency; family and social contacts; and religion. It attempts to analyse differences in ethnic identity and acculturation strategies between the Indian and Pakistani groups, and their perception of racism and discrimination. Social disadvantage and social exclusion experienced by ethnic minority groups is well documented. The discrimination and disadvantage experienced by South Asian groups may well influence their self-perceptions regarding ethnocultural identification and openness to integration with the host society. Studies point to an urgent call for the examination of systemic and structural biases in major British institutions.

Ethnic Business Development: Toward a Theoretical Synthesis and Policy Framework

There has been a growing interest in both Europe and North America in the high rate of self-employment among ethnic minority groups. The evidence indicates that some ethnic minorities are disproportionately represented in self-employment (Razin 1993; Fairlie and Meyer 1996; Clark and Drinkwater 2000). Well-known examples are the South Asians in Britain; the Koreans, Japanese, and Chinese in the USA; and the Turks and North Africans in France (Barrett, Jones, and McEvoy 1996; Bates 1997; Hillmann 1999; Ram and Jones 1998). There are a number of seemingly conflicting explanations given as to why some ethnic groups enter self-employment. These range from economic efficiency explanations to more sociological ones that draw on cultural factors. In this paper we will argue that such polarization of explanations is unnecessary and that, by drawing on the work of old intuitionalists (e.g., Veblen 1898) with their emphasis on path dependency and evolutionary behavior, a more unified, but more complex socio-economic argument can be forwarded to explain the disproportionate presence of ethnic entrepreneurs. The first section of the paper sets out the more cultural explanations. The next section covers orthodox economic explanations of entrepreneurial entry, and this is followed by a section on old institutional explanations. Policy implications are discussed in the final section of the paper, which, given the unequal distribution of entrepreneurs across different ethnic groups, not only considers ways of encouraging entrepreneurship but also possible routes in which this activity might best be concentrated.

Acculturation and ethnic identity in marginal immigrant South Asian men in Britain: A psychotherapeutic perspective

The incidence of mental health problems, and their treatment, for immigrant South Asians in Britain appear to be similar to that of the White population. However, there are some significant differences in relation to problems of substance misuse, treatment for depression and suicide. Difficulties in acculturation and in developing an integrated ethnic identity may contribute to some of these differences. Drawing from narratives of marginal immigrant South Asian men, a range of themes is identified. The implications of these issues for therapists are discussed.

Cultural stereotypes of women from South Asian communities: mental health care professionals’ explanations for patterns of suicide and depression

Low rates of treated depression and high rates of suicide in women from some South Asian communities are evident in epidemiological studies in the UK. It is argued here that explanations for these apparent differences are likely to be located in stereotypes of repressive South Asian cultures. This small scale study, utilising focus groups and individual interviews, sought to explore the construction of cultural stereotypes within mental health discourse with specific reference to stereotypes of women from South Asian communities. Mental health carers from a UK inner city area of relatively high social deprivation were targeted. Focus groups were conducted with a range of mental health care professionals who worked in both inpatient and outpatient mental health care services. In addition, individual interviews were conducted with consultant psychiatrists and General Practitioners. Extensive reference is made in this paper to the content of focus groups and interviews and how health carer's knowledge about and experience of South Asian cultures and caring for women from these communities was contextualised. Mental health care professionals constructed cultural difference in terms of fixed and immutable categories which operated to inferiorise Britain's South Asian communities. It is argued that their knowledge is constructed upon stereotypes of western culture as superior to a construction of eastern cultures as repressive, patriarchal and inferior to a western cultural ideal. Ultimately, it is argued that these stereotypes become incorporated as ‘fact’ and have the potential to misdirect diagnosis and therefore, also misdirect treatment pathways.

New Foods for Old? The Diet of South Asians in the UK

South Asians in Britain suffer from a higher rate of coronary heart disease than the indigenous population and it has been suggested that elevated levels of di etary fat play an important role in this disease pattern. Ahmed (1999) has ar gued that these fat levels are primarily due to the traditional South Asian methods of cooking, while McKeigue and Chaturvedi (1996) have additionally implicated Western fast food. A survey was conducted of 149 South Asians residing in and around London to ascertain their dietary beliefs and practices in relation to the percentage of energy derived from dietary fat. Subjects were drawn from two groups in order to investigate the effects of age and acculturation: employees at ICI (mean age 39 years) and students at London University (mean age 21 years). The data showed that both vegetarians/nonvegetarians and younger/older South Asians were consuming far too much fat in their diet. Western fast foods (i.e., potato chips) played a part but the primary factors were curried meat for older nonvegetarians, and butter for everyone else. Despite this high fat content and their awareness of the general relationship between fat and coronary heart dis ease, the subjects erroneously believed that they had a healthy diet. Butter was consumed on toast, sandwiches and potatoes, and the responses of the younger participants revealed that they considered this high fibre food healthy and over looked the amount of fat content in butter. Results are discussed in relation to their implication for health education and concepts of a multicultural diet.

Religion and economic activity in the South Asian population

Anthropological and sociological literature points to the importance of religion as a basis for understanding the diverse nature of Britain's South Asian population. Using a rare quantitative source, the 1994 National Survey of Ethnic Minorities, and against a backdrop of relative neglect by quantitative social scientists, this article considers the religious dimension to observed differences in economic activity among South Asians. The analysis reports substantial differences between religious sub-groups (by age and sex) across a range of key measures, including: differences in the proportion who are economically active; differences in the proportion of the economically active who successfully gain employment; among the employed, differences in the type of jobs held and in reported income. The analysis suggests a more complex picture than the Muslim/non-Muslim dichotomy often inferred from analysis using conventional ethnic group classifications, with notable differences between Indian Sikhs and Hindus, and between Indian Muslims and Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslims.

South Asians with ulcerative colitis exhibit altered lectin binding compared with matched European cases.

Ulcerative colitis is associated with abnormalities of mucin synthesis and secretion, features that may also be associated with malignant change. It has been shown that South Asians in Britain have a high incidence of ulcerative colitis but a low incidence of colorectal carcinoma compared with their European counterparts. Previous studies have demonstrated changes in colonic mucin sialylation and sulphation in both South Asian and European cases with ulcerative colitis. This was related to disease severity, but changes were also found in quiescent disease. The aim of the present study was to determine glycoconjugate expression in the colon from South Asian cases and to compare results with those from a group of affected Europeans. Glycans were identified in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue from 17 South Asian patients with ulcerative colitis and from 11 European patients with a similar degree of colitis, by the application of 10 biotinylated lectins. These were directed against a range of sialyl, fucosyl and 2-deoxy, 2-acetamido-galactosyl sequences, using an avidin-peroxidase revealing system and semiquantitative assessment. The South Asian group showed a reduction in the binding of agglutinins from Sambucus nigra in the apical-membranous region of enterocytes, and a decrease in apical Maackia amurensis agglutinin binding. These results suggest that South Asians with ulcerative colitis show a different distribution of terminal N-acetyl neuraminyl residues, either in their alpha-2,6 or alpha-2,3 linkage, compared with their European counterparts. The changes in sialylation observed in European cases compared with normal disease-free control subjects were present in quiescent disease, but were also related to disease activity. Their absence in Asians with ulcerative colitis may imply an inherent, genetically determined variation in this group, which may also play a part in their reduced risk of subsequent malignancy.

British policy towards Indian princes in late nineteenth and early twentieth‐century Britain

This article examines the factors which induced Indian princes to visit Britain, the background and implementation of British initiatives on princely travel and the vocal response they produced. It also explores the impact of residence in Britain and the ambiguity of Indian princes’ status within British society. The last part of the article focuses more closely on official British attempts to restrict foreign travel to England. The study concludes by highlighting the contradictory nature of British attitudes towards Indian princes in Britain. Clearly, official attitudes towards South Asians in Britain were much more complex than is sometimes suggested.

Sport and South Asian youth: the perils of ‘false universalism’ and stereotyping

Studies of the sport-ethnicity relation have tended to neglect young South Asians in Britain and although there has recently been an increasing interest in the role of sport in South Asian lifestyles, the significance and function of sport in South Asian cultures remains confused and ill-informed. This paper offers a critical reflection on some of the important studies that have informed this under-researched area of leisure studies, and considers two key themes. First, that the failure to fully acknowledge South Asian heterogeneity — a failure manifest as ‘false universalism’ — operates at three different levels: collective treatment of all minority groups; mistaken assumptions about all South Asians; and a misunderstanding about the full complexity of South Asian heterogeneity. Second, that false universalism leads to the sort of crude stereotypes about the sporting aptitude and preferences of young South Asians that are generally prevalent, and can also become internalized by South Asians themselves.

Diabetes, hyperinsulinaemia, and coronary risk factors in Bangladeshis in east London.

Immigrants from the Indian subcontinent (South Asians) in England and Wales have higher morbidity and mortality from coronary heart disease than the general population; this seems to apply to both Hindus and Muslims. Studies in north west London and Trinidad found that the increased risk of coronary heart disease in Indians was not explained by dietary fat intakes, smoking, blood pressure, or plasma lipids. In the present study the distribution of coronary risk factors was measured in an East London borough where the mortality and attack rate from coronary heart disease are higher in the Asian population, predominantly Muslims from Bangladesh, than in the rest of the population. In a sample of 253 men and women aged 35-69 from general practice, mean plasma cholesterol concentrations were lower in Bangladeshi than in European men and women. Mean systolic blood pressures were 10 mm Hg lower in Bangladeshis. Plasma fibrinogen concentrations were similar in Bangladeshis and Europeans and factor VII coagulant activity was lower in Bangladeshi than in European men. In contrast with the findings in Hindus in north west London, smoking rates were high in Bangladeshi men and the ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids in plasma lipids was lower in Bangladeshis than in Europeans. Diabetes was three times more common in Bangladeshis than in Europeans and serum insulin concentrations measured after a glucose load were twice as high in Bangladeshis. High insulin concentrations in Bangladeshis were associated with high plasma triglyceride and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations. Insulin resistance, leading to diabetes, hyperinsulinaemia, and secondary lipoprotein disturbances, is a possible mechanism for the high rates of coronary heart disease in South Asians in Britain and overseas.

Elderly South Asians in Britain: A survey of relevant literature and themes for future research

ABSTRACTThe number of elderly Commonwealth South Asian immigrants in Britain originating from the Indian sub-continent will grow substantially in the next few years, yet there has been little consideration of this group in terms of academic social research. Indeed, welfare agencies are only beginning to become aware of the possible needs of this group. A survey of the scanty British literature on elderly ethnic minorities reveals the paucity of existing knowledge. However, studies from other countries, notably Japan and the U.S.A., suggest a number of illuminating areas for research. The presence of a culturally distinct Asian ethnic minority group experiencing ageing in British conditions appears to afford a good opportunity to throw further light on an important aspect of gerontological theory: namely the respective weight to be attached to cultural factors, social structure and the degree of societal modernisation in shaping the ageing process of individuals and groups.