Survey says 26% of Britons are at least ‘a little’ prejudiced – but age, class, education and income give no clues to attitude

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Britons who are men, voted leave in the EU referendum and support the Conservative party are more likely to describe themselves as “racially prejudiced” than others, according to new research.

The study – Racial prejudice in Britain today (pdf), released by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) – also found there had been little change in attitudes to race and ethnicity over the past 30 years.

Contrary to received wisdom, an individual’s level of education, social class, income and age are not statistically significant predictors of racial prejudice, the study says.

The organisation, responsible for conducting the British Social Attitudes survey, found 26% of Britons described themselves as “very” or “a little” prejudiced towards people of other races in a survey of 2,220 people.



Men (29%) were more likely than women (23%) to say they were racially prejudiced, and leave voters (34%) were more likely to say the same than remain voters (18%).

The population was also divided along party lines, with 33% of Conservative party supporters admitting racial prejudice compared with 20% of Liberal Democrat backers, 18% of Labour supporters, and 28% of those who backed another party.



Also published in the report was new data from the European Social Survey conducted in 2014, which revealed that 18% of Britons thought “some races or ethnic groups are born less intelligent”.



A total of 44% of the 3,000 Britons involved in the European Social Survey also said some ethnic groups were naturally harder working.



The study concludes that: “While it is true that a majority of the public do not consider themselves racially prejudiced, a considerable minority describe themselves as prejudiced, and there are sound reasons to believe both that the actual prevalence of racial prejudice is likely to be higher, and that some of this prejudice is of a very significant nature, such as believing that some races are born less intelligent.”

Nancy Kelley, deputy chief executive of NatCen, said: “These numbers provide clear evidence that a significant minority of people in Britain feel prejudiced towards people of other races.

“The findings seem to buck the trend of growing tolerance we have seen in the British Social Attitudes survey.

“Prejudice on this scale is something we as a society should be concerned about, not least as there is a significant body of evidence that even subtle racial prejudices contribute to racial inequality in areas such as education, employment and in the criminal justice system.”

Dr Omar Khan, director of racial equality thinktank Runnymede, said: “We have been far too complacent about a rising wave of tolerance leading to a less prejudiced society.

“We need new ways of talking about race to tackle the stereotypes and fears of difference that give rise to unfairness.

“But even more importantly, we need policies that tackle racial inequality and enable greater social interaction between people from different backgrounds.”