Black and Asian Minority Ethnic Groups in Britain: Class, Income and Property

Rapid socio-economic transformation and the growth of the service-sector dominant economies has led to an expansion of the middle classes in many post-industrial societies. At the same time, soaring house prices since the late nineties has meant that many young people, including young professionals, are being priced-out of the property market. Stratification and inequality research rarely pays attention to consumption, and property is among the most expensive purchase people make. This paper aims to bridge this gap by investigating the relationship between class attainment, income and property ownership among Black and Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups in Great Britain. Using data from the Quarterly Labour Force Surveys, it compares the odds of home ownership of the foreign-born to that of British-born BAME groups, controlling for qualification, gender, age, marital status and number of dependent children. It also aims to track changes over time, if any, by comparing the pattern of home ownership and class positions amongst BAME groups in the 1990s to those since 2000 and 2010. It asks if BAME middle class are under-represented among home owners, if foreign-born BAME groups are more or less likely to be home-owners than their native-born counterparts. It discusses the implications of the kind of ‘middle class’ experience for these groups, especially among BAME families with children who cannot afford to buy their homes. It concludes with some methodological reflections on investigating the middle classes in contemporary societies, characterised by transnational migratory flows.