ABSTRACT
The analysis which follows stems from a growing concern at the apparent inability of the literature, both beyond the discipline and within it, to provide a convincing theorisation of the structural position of Britain's minority populations within the housing market. This chapter seeks to add to the theoretical literature, but not through an extension of existing, ultimately arid, conceptual debates. Employing summaries of detailed analyses of 1991 Census data, it aims to demonstrate that large-scale secondary data on factors such as tenure, dwelling type, amenities and levels of overcrowding can be used to interrogate existing theoretical debates. As to the sociological agenda, there is an urgent need to theorise the sociological dimensions of economic, social and demographic change. Despite the obvious problems created both by small sample sizes and by significant differences in age structure between these groups and the first-generation migrants, a few tentative conclusions can be reached.
