Religion and ethnicity: Dual and alternative sources of identity among young British Pakistanis

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Abstract
This article considers the interrelationship between religious and ethnic identities maintained by young British Pakistanis, and addresses the question of why religion is a more significant source of social identity for these young people than ethnicity. There are two basic manifestations of this greater significance of religion. First, it is manifest in the nature of the fundamental distinction made by many young British Pakistanis between religion and ethnicity as sources of identity. This distinction rests on the assumption that whereas Pakistani ethnicity relates to a particular place and its people, Islam has universal relevance. The greater significance of religion is manifest, secondly, in the contrast between the essential characteristics of the social boundaries delineating the two forms of social identity. The social boundaries which encompass expressions of religious identity among young British Pakistanis are pervasive and clear‐cut in comparison to increasingly permeable ethnic boundaries.