Asking Ethnic Questions: some hows, whys and wherefores

The author examines the results of including an ethnic question in the 1991 census of Great Britain. "Half a century has now passed since mass migration began and in most communities at least a quarter of a century since the influx reached its peak. Hence we are now in an excellent position to begin to assess how each of these communities has fared during the intervening years and thus how far their hopes of upward mobility have in fact materialized. Furthermore and perhaps most significantly we can now begin to explore just how varied these trajectories of adaptation have proved to be." (EXCERPT)