Ethno-religious Background as a Determinant of Educational and Occupational Attainment in Britain

This article seeks to contribute to a newly growing literature on religious differences in education and the labour market, and seeks to answer two main questions: To what extent does education have similar impacts on occupational attainment across ethnic and faith groups? To what extent are these ethnic differences due to religious affiliation and/or skin colour? The data used in this study have been obtained from the 2001 UK Census. The data suggest that ethnicity per se is not an important factor but operates as a proxy, and, as this article shows, skin colour and culture (religion) are to a greater extent arguably the main mechanisms that operate to reinforce disadvantage among some groups or to facilitate social mobility amongst others. The direction and strength of their influence appears to be dependent on whether the specific culture is seen as compatible or 'alien' in relation to the hegemonic culture.