ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some research into perceptions of health, ill health and their determinants among people of South Asian origin in London.1 Qualitative research of this type commonly seeks to investigate and document culturally specific characteristics of particular minority groups, based on an assumption that cultural differences in the UK population that are predictably correlated with ethnic identification significantly affect health status, health-related behaviour and receptivity to health information. In this chapter we question this assumption and suggest that the notion of ‘cultural difference’ may have limited value in explaining differentials in health status, health beliefs and health-related behaviour in a multiethnic society. We argue that this is the result both of reifying, simplistic and unhelpful characterisations of ‘culture’ which are drawn upon in health and health services research and of narrowly framed methodological approaches to the study of ‘ethnic groups’, which serve to constrain the nature and interpretation of research findings.
