The Face-to-Face Survey of Zoroastrians in Britain 1987 - part 2
The different sub-groups of the sample of Zoroastrians in this survey were analysed. Although there were a number of demographic and socio-economic variables in the data set, only those variables that had a statistical significance when correlated with the eighteen attitudinal, (YES and NO responses), variables will be reported. When the demographic variables, Gender, Age, Country of Origin, Marital Status, Marital Partner, Language Think In, Level of Education, Place of Education, Occupation, Member of Zoroastrian House, Permanent Immigrant, Self-Description Zoroastrian, Practising Zoroastrian, Race & Religion Demarcation, Intergenerational Conflict were correlated with the nine attitudinal variables (YES responses) the following correlations were observed. See Tables 3a-3h, for the correlation of the attitudinal variables (YES responses) with the demographic variables.
In Table 3a it can be seen that Cultural Conflict is negatively correlated with Gender, (r = -.15), and Place of Education, (r = -.17), suggesting that women report more feelings of cultural conflict than men, and that those respondents who were educated abroad are less likely to admit to cultural conflicts than those educated in the UK.
Table 3b shows that the Ethnic Identity attitudinal variable is positively correlated with Marital Status, (r = .22), and Place of Education, (r = .23), indicating that married Zoroastrians are more likely to have a more positive ethnic identity than never been married Zoroastrians, and those respondents who were educated abroad are more likely to have a more positive ethnic identity than those educated in the UK.
Ethnic Identity is also correlated positively with Marital Partner, (r = .28), Member of Zoroastrian House, (r = .22), Self-Description Zoroastrian, (r = .22), Practising Zoroastrian, (r = .31), and Race & Religion Demarcation, (r = .20). Thus those respondents who are either married to Zoroastrians, or members of Zoroastrian House, or describe themselves solely as Zoroastrian, or say they are practising Zoroastrians or advocate keeping the racial and religious demarcation associated with the community, have a high ethnic identity. There is one negative correlation with Language Think In, (r = -.31), suggesting that those respondents who think in English are not likely to score highly on the Ethnic Identity attitudinal variable. These results point to a strong relationship between the respondents’ ethnic identity and their religion. Ethnic Identity is positively correlated with Age, (r = .19), and the implication is that the older the respondent the higher the ethnic identity.
In Table 3c it can be seen that the Religious Identity attitudinal variable is negatively correlated with Language Think In, (r = -.28), and again because of the coding of the identity variable those respondents who think in English are not likely to have a positive score on the Religious Identity attitudinal variable. The variables Marital Partner, (r = .37), Member of Zoroastrian House, (r = .35), Practising Zoroastrian, (r = .49), and Race & Religion Demarcation, (r = .32), show a strong positive relationship with the Religious Identity attitudinal variable as they did with the Ethnic Identity variable. The Religious Identity attitudinal variable has one other positive correlation with Self-Description Zoroastrian, (r = .16), pointing to the fact that those respondents who describe themselves solely in Zoroastrianism terms have a high religious identity.
In Table 3d it can be seen that the Symbolic Boundaries attitudinal variable is correlated with Marital Status, (r = .16), Marital Partner, (r = -.23), Practising Zoroastrian, (r = -.17), and Race & Religion Demarcation, (r = -.20). The interpretation of these results is that being married indicates support for opening the symbolic boundaries. On the other hand being married to a Zoroastrian, or describing oneself as a Zoroastrian, or supporting the traditional race and religion demarcation, does not indicate support for opening the group boundaries.
Table 3e shows that the Attitudes to Insiders attitudinal variable is correlated with Country of Origin, (r = .16), Language Think In, (r = -.17), Level of Education, (r = .18), and Member of Zoroastrian House, (r = .20). Those respondents who were born outside the UK are more likely to see differences between Parsis and Iranis in the UK Zoroastrian community, than those who were born inside the UK. The same is so for those respondents who were graduates, or who were members of Zoroastrian House. However, those respondents who think in English are more likely to see different insiders in a positive light.
In Table 3f it can be seen that the Perceived Racial Prejudice attitudinal variable has two negative correlations, Place of Education, (r = -.25), suggesting that those respondents who were educated abroad are less likely to say that they perceive racial discrimination than those educated in the UK; and Age, (r = -.19), suggesting that the older the respondent, the less likely they are to perceive racial prejudice.
In Table 3g it can be seen that the Symbolic Boundaries and Race attitudinal variable has only one significant correlation and that is with Age, (r = -.19), indicating that the older the respondent, the less likely they are to advocate raising the community's boundaries because of increased racism in the UK.
Table 3h shows that the Religious Knowledge variable is correlated with the identity variables Age, (r = .22), Marital Status, (r =.21), Marital Partner, (r = .31), Member of Zoroastrian House, (r = .33), Self-Description Zoroastrian, (r = .23), and Practising Zoroastrian, (r = .45). These correlations suggest that the older the respondent, the higher the religious knowledge score, and similarly with the Marital Status variable; the married are more likely to have more religious knowledge than the never been married. Those respondents who have Zoroastrian marital partners, or who are members of Zoroastrian House, or who describe themselves as Zoroastrian, or say that they are practising Zoroastrians, are likely to score highly on the religious knowledge attitudinal variable. Again, those respondents who think in English are not likely to have a positive score on this variable, Language Think In, (r = -.34). The Religious Knowledge attitudinal variable is also positively correlated with Place of Education, (r = .19), and Country of Origin, (r = .17). These results suggest that those respondents who were born abroad or who were educated outside the UK were more likely to have knowledge of their religion than those respondents who were born in the UK or educated in the UK.
There were no significant correlations at all for the attitudinal variable Attitudes to Outsiders. This completes the analysis of the nine attitudinal variables (YES responses).