Explore our Racial Terminology Blog Series Below!
Talking RACE
Taking ACTION
The project sought to understand how racial terminology is used across communities and organisations, how people feel about different terms, and what this means for anti-racist practice.
Our report titled ‘If Other, please specify‘ stresses that categorisation and ethnicity data collection were seen as important tools for identifying structural racism, and that terminology should be understood as part of the wider fight for racial equity, not separate from it.
Our findings show that racial terminology remains a live and often difficult issue for individuals, communities and organisations.
The project revealed both shared patterns and strong differences in how people describe themselves, how they interpret common terms, and what they need from more honest conversations about race.
I think we need to explain the experience [of racialisation]. If this is your experience, you’re with us; if this is not your experience, you’re not with us. And then what it is we’re willing to do about changing that experience.”
Focus Group Participant
Racial Terminology Project 2025
Commonly used race-related terms
You might use glossaries like this to help you introduce and understand common racial terminology in the UK. Don’t be constrained by definitions; instead, construct meaning in your community – ‘when we say this, this is what we mean’, whilst being aware that language can have history, nuance, and different interpretations.
Read below to understand the difference between terms frequently used and/or debated in the UK.
Race
Race is a social construct used to group and differentiate humans based on false biological hierarchies. Though ‘race’ is not real, the social, historical, and cultural weight of racism is.
Ethnicity
Ethnicity is tied to common or shared nationality, heritage, culture, and geography, and is not clearly distinct from race, often including skin colour, culture, language or religion.
Minoritised communities
This term does not just apply exclusively to racial and ethnic groups – it can also be used for other minority groups such as those with disability and LGBTQ+ groups. The active ‘minoritised’ is an intentional difference from ‘minority’, in order to emphasise the unequal systems of power that result in disadvantage.
Global majority communities
Global majority refers to people who are black, Asian, brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or have been racialised as ‘ethnic minorities’ and represent approximately 80% of the world’s population.
Black communities
This term focuses on those racialised as Black – usually of African and Caribbean descent, including those of mixed heritage.
Black and Minoritised
This term is not commonly used, and highlights the distinct experiences of Black people, alongside shared experiences of racism with other groups.
People of Colour
This term is used commonly in the U.S., and groups together people with ‘non-White’ skin colours.
Non-White
This term refers to people who are understood as being not of White European heritage, in whole or in part.
Language around race has often been constructed to oppress certain people and privilege others, and it is important for communities to actively decide what kind of language they want to use to describe themselves; what parts of their identities are important, salient, and measurable. There is no correct answer, and different people, and communities will develop their own terms.”
