Background to the Research

• A common perception remains that racism is not a problem in Northern Ireland. There are so few ethnic people living in the region, so the argument goes, that it is of little relevance here. Moreover, until very recently, the conflict had dominated so much of the political agenda in Northern Ireland that it was believed there was little time to be concerned with anything else. Growing research which has emerged over recent years however, clearly shows that this is not the case and evidence suggests that significant aspects of the lives and experiences of ethnic people within Northern Ireland are structured by 'race' and racism. This report is the first of five to be published over the coming year.

Research Approach

• An attitudinal survey of 1267 people drawn from across Northern Ireland was conducted between October and November 1998. Great care was taken to ensure that those interviewed comprised a representative sample of the Northern Ireland population.
• Alongside this survey, which forms the basis of the report, data was also gathered from in-depth interviews with members of the minority ethnic communities across Northern Ireland, representatives from different sections of the majority white population and with policy makers and practitioners from a range of service areas.

Main Findings

• Contrary to popular opinion, issues of race and ethnicity are far from unimportant or insignificant in the attitudes of people living in Northern Ireland.
• In terms of statements of general principle, a significant majority of those in Northern Ireland tend to hold quite positive and liberal attitudes towards race relations.
• With regard to more specific matters such as when the specific identity of particular minority ethnic groups are named and/or when considering issues which might effect respondents more personally, racial attitudes tend to be more negative. Most negative attitudes appeared to be reserved for Travellers.
• Overall, racial prejudice appears to be around twice as significant than sectarian prejudice in the initial attitudes of the population in Northern Ireland. Around twice as many respondents in the survey stated that they would be unwilling to accept and or/mix with member of minority ethnic communities than they would members of the other main religious tradition (i.e. Catholic of Protestant) to themselves.
• Negative attitudes towards specific minority ethnic groups have become significantly worse over the last few years.
• At least one in five of the population are likely to belong to a social grouping where name-calling occurs to one extent or another. Twenty one per cent of respondents stated that their friends had called someone a name because of their colour or ethnicity.
• Significantly, there is only a very small relationship between levels of racial prejudice and the tendency to engage in racist name-calling. Racial name calling is only a marginal motivating factor in influencing a person's decision to engage in racist name-calling.
• Both racial prejudice and racist name-calling are not the preserve of any particular social group. There is such a variation in the incidence of both within the population that they are likely to occur within any social group, however that group is defined.