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Sociology
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Collective Terminology to Describe the Minority Ethnic Population

The Persistence of Confusion and Ambiguity in Usage

Peter J. Aspinall

University of Kent at Canterbury, P.J.Aspinall{at}ukc.ac.uk

A wide range of terminology is used, often interchangeably, to describe the minority ethnic group population as a whole and major segments of it.While some terms have been extended to give clarity, as in ‘Asian, Black and other minority ethnic’, much in this lexicon remains cumbersome or ambiguous in usage. Further, white minority groups such as the Irish frequently get omitted in the category shuffle, creating ‘injustices of recognition’. Imprecision in terminology can equally apply to ‘pan-ethnic’ terms like ‘Asian’ and ‘Black’, the specific terms having the potential to describe quite different populations in the absence of explanation about the concept being measured and method of assignment. The use of terminology that is precisely defined and acceptable to those being described is advocated.

Key Words: Asian • Black • collective terminology • minority ethnic • pan ethnic • 2001 Census

Sociology, Vol. 36, No. 4, 803-816 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/003803850203600401
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