On the whole, white people acknowledge that there is widespread prejudice against ethnic minorities, though fewer white people than in the past say they are prejudiced themselves. A large survey carried out in 1997 found that less than 10% of British people thought people in this country are not at all prejudiced. Asked if they thought people were very prejudiced or quite prejudiced, this is who said 'yes':

	White	African-Caribbean	Asian	Jewish
people are very prejudiced	11%	29%	16%	11%
people are quite prejudiced	35%	38%	29%	42%

Most white people mentioned groups who stood out by their colour as likely to experience prejudice, though minorities themselves included Jews. All groups agreed that prejudice against whites was very low.

The reasons people gave for prejudice were, in order of importance:

• the idea that minorities were 'taking jobs'
• various things to do with cultural differences
• believing that minorities were 'getting good housing' and on the dole

Though they didn't rate it as a big concern, more than half of whites and Asians thought there was too much Asian immigration. Young white people are probably more likely to be hostile towards Asians than towards African-Caribbeans.

On the positive side, over 60% think Asians and African-Caribbeans have made a contribution to public services in Britain. 90% think that Asians have strong family values, 85% think they're hard workers, 77% think they're intelligent and 71% law-abiding. Around 60% rated African-Caribbeans highly on these attributes, as well as thinking they've made a contribution in sport, though only 47% thought they were law-abiding.

Most people feel the Race Relations Act has been a good idea, though at least 35% of all groups (including whites) think it could be strengthened. 21% of whites think it gives too much special treatment to minorities - far fewer minorities say this.

The vast majority of all groups say they wouldn't mind living next door to someone from other groups.

There's a whole range of attitudes about intermarriage. Only about 12% of younger whites would 'mind a lot' if one of their relatives married an African-Caribbean or Asian person (25% of elderly whites would mind). Less than 5% would mind if the partner was Jewish. About 30% of both Jews and Asians would mind if a close relative married someone from another group. Whatever their own feelings, most people think that 'people generally' would mind about intermarriage. (In fact, about 20% of African Caribbean people and Chinese people have white partners).

In some other European countries there are higher levels of hostility towards minorities. An EU study in 1997 showed 8% of British people classed themselves as 'very racist', compared with 22% of Belgians, 16% of French people and 14% of Austrians. Younger people seemed to be less racist than older people.

Towards the end of the1990s, prejudice against Muslims increased. One report called this 'Islamophobia' (fear of anything to do with Muslims). The British National Party, which has ideas very hostile to Black and Asian people, stirred up anti-Muslim feelings in some local elections in 2001. They won more votes than they had ever won before.