A Summary of Statistical Analyses of the Data Set Describing Zoroastrian Social Identities, The Face-to-Face Survey of Zoroastrians in Britain 1987.

This is not a random sample of Zoroastrians living in the UK. There is no means of knowing how representative it is of the community as a whole, but it is very interesting when taken as an exercise in looking at the identities of a particular group of people in the UK in 1987. Ethnic identity increases with age and tends to be associated with not being single, being married to a Zoroastrian, educated abroad, a member of Zoroastrian House, a self-description of social identity solely as Zoroastrian, a practising Zoroastrian and in favour of retaining the race and religion demarcation in the symbolic boundaries of the community. On the other hand, those respondents who thought in English were more likely to have a negative response to ethnic identity. Religious identity is also, negatively associated with English as a language that is thought in, high educational achievements, and high occupational status; those respondents who either think in English, or have graduate level education, or who have high occupational status tend to have low religious identity. Religious identity was positively correlated with having a Zoroastrian marital partner, being a member of Zoroastrian House, a practising Zoroastrian, having a social identity solely as a Zoroastrian, and wanting to maintain the race and religion demarcation. These variables appear again in relation to knowledge of the religion, suggesting that it is closely associated with involvement in the community by the Zoroastrians, or by those Zoroastrians who were older, or who were educated abroad or who born outside the UK, or who were married. Again, those respondents who think in English do not have much religious knowledge.

The strong negative correlation between perceived racial prejudice and being educated abroad, suggests that the respondents may be unwilling to accept, or understand, an ethnic identity imposed from without. Also, those respondents who were older were less likely to report perceived racial prejudice, as were those Zoroastrians who wanted to retain the race and religion demarcation. Cultural conflict tends to be reported by the women in the sample but not by those Zoroastrians who were educated abroad. Single people and respondents who were educated in the UK recognized cultural conflict in their lives. Perception of differences between insiders in the UK community is associated with being born outside the UK, or being a member of the formal Zoroastrian organization, or being highly educated. However, those respondents who think in the English language show a positive response to "different" insiders. I think this particular set of variables points to the conflicts within the community. In terms of attitudes to outsiders, there were no significant relationships measured, except that the lower the religious identity of the respondent the more likely the positive response to outsiders. In terms of attitudes to the group withdrawing behind community boundaries if the racial situation deteriorated in the UK, certain relationships were measured. Those respondents who were members of the official Zoroastrian organization, or who said they were practising Zoroastrians, or who were married to Zoroastrian partners, or who identified themselves solely as Zoroastrian, or who supported maintaining the race and religion demarcation, or who had emigrated permanently to the UK, were not likely to support keeping the group boundaries open under increased racism in the UK. Again, those respondents who thought in English, or those respondents who were older, tended to be in favour of keeping the group boundaries open if there was increased racism in the UK. It would appear that Zoroastrians operate their ethnic identity from both ends of the continuum; from a positive position of strength in terms of inner concepts of exclusiveness and inner strength and resources and from a negative position due to pressures from without the community.

Support for no change to the traditional symbolic boundaries of Zoroastrianism came from those Zoroastrians who were married to Zoroastrians, or said that they were practising Zoroastrians, or supported the race and religion demarcation, or who were members of Zoroastrian House. On the other hand those respondents who were married indicated that they were in favour of changing the symbolic boundaries of the community, reflecting the worries of those Zoroastrians who thought that their children might marry out, or who had, themselves, married out of the community.

The survey was set up to investigate, amongst other social identities, Zoroastrians' ethnic identity. Ethnic identity is always, to some degree a product of forces operating from within the individual and those impinging from without. At the positive, pole ethnic identity depends more upon inner resources of exclusiveness, and at the negative pole, of minimal definition imposed from without. The results from the data analysis would support these propositions. Those respondents who had social identities based upon their affiliation to Zoroastrianism showed a tendency towards exclusiveness. There were few significant relationships with perceived racial prejudice or any with attitudes to outsiders. However, there were strong relationships between ethnicity and keeping the group boundaries closed if racism increased in the UK. These respondents are not un-aware of the pressures being imposed from without. The relationship between social identities and group boundaries was strong.