Saffron Karlsen 1, James Nazroo 2 1 Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London 2 Sociology, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester Background There has been much discussion recently regarding the social position of different religious groups in Britain. There are concerns regarding the ability of different groups to live alongside one another: after the terrorist incidents in the US, Madrid and London since 2001 and the rise in religious hate crime (directed towards Muslim groups in particular) which followed. There are also concerns that some religious groups, again particularly Muslims, experience severe socioeconomic disadvantage compared with others in the UK. And that this, combined with the sense of isolation resulting from religious victimisation and responses to the British involvement in the US ‘war on terror’, will produce problems for the development of a ‘British’ identity and an integrated lifestyle in the UK. This research aims to fill some of the gaps in knowledge relating to the positions of different religious groups in England. Aim To explore differences in socioeconomic circumstances, ethnic identification, experiences of victimisation and attitudes towards the importance of the maintenance of particular cultural traditions among South Asian Hindu, Sikh and Muslim people in England. Methods The Health Survey for England (HSE) The HSE uses a nationally represententative sample of people aged 2 and over from private households in England. In the 1999 and 2004 sweeps, the HSE sampling scheme incorporated the collection of data from a boosted sample of people from the largest ethnic groups in England. These analyses combine data from these two years, with a sample base of 37058: including 4390 South Asian people who reported their religious affiliation to be ‘Muslim’, 1156 who described themselves as ‘Hindu’ and 650 who described themselves as ‘Sikh’. Analyses also explored the effect of ethnic variations between the groups. Data were analysed using chi-squared statistics, and were weighted to allow for non-response and to scale the populations relative to their representation in England. The ethnic identity, cultural preservation and racism questions were taken from a followup survey to the 1999 HSE, conducted in Household income was equalivalised for the number of people in the household, and was divided (into tertiles) according to the distribution of income across the whole sample. Conclusions This research suggests that Muslim, Hindu and Sikh groups vary in their experiences of socioeconomic disadvantage. Muslim people appear particularly disadvantaged, in terms of educational attainment, income and levels of employment, although Sikhs often do not fair as well as Hindu groups. Findings not shown suggest that Bangladeshi Muslims experience particular socioeconomic disadvantage, compared with Indian and Pakistani Muslims. Muslim women occupy a distinct position regarding their economic activity, with low levels of employment and high levels of fulltime ‘homemaking’. This variation is not explained by ethnic differences between the groups. A high proportion of respondents in each group considered ‘Britishness’ to be a real and important consideration in their lives, regardless of their ethnic background (not shown). The continuation of traditional cultural practices remains an important aspect of peoples’ lives, however. The Social Position of Religious Groups in England Results Educational achievement Figure 1 shows that Sikhs and, particularly, Muslims were more likely to have no qualifications compared with Hindus, and Hindus more likely to have higher qualifications, such as A’ levels, than respondents in the other two groups. Over 20% of respondents in each group had compulsory level qualifications, such as O’ levels or GCSE’s. Income Despite their potential similarities in educational disadvantage, there appeared to be some variations between the Muslim and Sikh groups, in terms of equivalised household income. Muslim groups appeared to be more disadvantaged than Sikh groups, who had greater proportions in the middle and high income tertiles. The average incomes of the Hindu group were considerably higher than that of the other two. Economic activity Among men, rates of employment were lowest, and unemployment was highest, among Muslims (figures 3a, 3b and 3c) Ethnic identity Respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with the statements: “In many ways I think of myself as British” “In may ways I think of myself as being Bangladeshi/Pakistani/Indian” Answers to these questions were combined to reflect: those who felt both British and South Asian; those who felt either British or South Asian; those who didn’t feel strongly either way; and those who disagreed with both statements, feeling that these ethnic labels did not apply to them. Figure 5 shows that three-fifths of respondents in each group perceive themselves as being both British and South Asian, although there are large minority of people who maintain the importance of a sole Bangladeshi, Indian or Pakistani identity. Over 80% of respondents in each group agreed that: “People of Bangladeshi/Pakistani/Indian origin should try to preserve as much as possible of their culture and way of life” (figure 6). Discrimination There were some differences in the extent to which the different groups perceived discrimination in Britain. Muslims were less likely to believe that most British employers would discriminate against someone on the grounds of race, colour or religious or ethnic background when recruiting (figure 7). Sikhs were slightly more likely to report that they had been the victim of racist abuse, assault or vandalism in the previous year (figure 8). Muslim women (figure 4), were less likely to be employed, and more likely to describe themselves as ‘looking after the home’, compared with Hindu and Sikh women. There was little shift in this pattern after controlling for ethnicity. Further details are available from