The Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities in Britain provides the most
reliable and comprehensive picture of the ways in which ethnic minorities are
carving out a place for themselves in British society. Since the First Survey was published in 1966, these surveys have remained both the most sophisticated sources of information on the subject and important benchmarks against which to assess British progress in integrating its ethnic minorities. While concentrating on discrimination and disadvantages in employment, education and housing as its three predecessors had done, the Fourth Survey casts its net much wider, asking questions about such matters as the minority physical and mental health, life-styles and cultural identity that had not been explored before.