Cultures of mixing: understanding partnerships across ethnicity

This article presents an extensive analysis of 'cultures of mixing'?that is, relationships between partners from different ethnic backgrounds?based on 2001 British census data. The data is used to show how 'mixed' partnerships are relevant to aspects of current debates about the nature of ethnic relations in contemporary Britain. We begin with a discussion of dominant stereotypes around mixed race/ethnicity partnerships in Britain and their links to dystopian visions of majority and minority ethnic relations, before looking at frameworks of understanding that offer a challenge to these gloomy diagnoses, and in particular the concept of 'convivial culture'. This discussion is followed by an analysis of the location and socio-economic characteristics of 'cultures of mixing'. We argue that 'cultures of mixing' are spatially and socially uneven, and appear to be underpinned by more material and equity-based features of social life and provision.