ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the three dominant theoretical paradigms commonly applied to ethnic attainment research in British higher education: the deficit model, critical race theory and multiculturalism. The paradigms are then contextualised through a discussion of the recent ideological shifts in academic thinking, race legislation, higher education and wider politics. Ideological shifts are shifts in the set of ideas which form the framework through which an issue is viewed or understood. Ethnic attainment differences in British higher education have in the past been explained through 'assimilation' theories using a deficit model that focused on personal and social deficiencies. Critical race theorists and anti-racist pedagogues argue that ethnic inequalities in higher education are the result of systemic racism, that is, a system of white supremacy and minority ethnic subordination. The chapter draws out criticisms of ethnic attainment research from the wider political and cultural context in which it takes place.
