ABSTRACT
A thumbnail sketch of the teenagers and their families in terms of the social and educational outcomes would give a picture of an ethnic community which had its main migration during the economic recession of the 1970s and early 1980s and which is characterized by disadvantage on most indicators. Such a picture would be misleading. This chapter traces the move from generalized notions of ethnic disadvantage in the 1970s through reactions to the use of aggregated data to recent use of fine-grained data addressing specific factors and groups of factors. It also examines the discourses of disadvantage and the role literacy has come to play in these discourses.
