“What are the purposes of ethnic monitoring? Give examples of its use. Outline the difficulties in implementing ethnic monitoring, including those that arise in accurately classifying an individuals race?”

Ethnic monitoring is a controversial subject that can basically be defined as the collection of racial data and statistics. Controversy exists because of the way in which information is collected, and the uses to which the data has, or in some cases has not, been put. Despite the debates about the validity of the collection of racial data, it is still collected, and has been since the 1960s. This very fact illustrates the way in which it is felt that the knowledge of an individuals race is necessary to allow the study of social divisions, and the position of the individual within society….(short extract)