Ethnic disavantage

Question 1

Workplace

Answer 1

Wood et al - Did a field experiment to examine job applications - they found that people with names associated with an ethnic minority background would have to make 16 applications before they got a positive response, compared with 9 applications for ‘white-sounding’ applicants

Parkin - Ethnic minorities are a negatively privileged status group. Ethnic majority use social closure to prevent ethnic minorities from reaching positions of authority and status. As a result they face a concrete ceiling in the workplace

Question 2

Education

Answer 2

DfE Statistics (2019) - GCSE results with an “average attainment 8 score” were as follows: Chinese - 64.2, Indian - 56.3%, White British - 46.1%, Black Caribbean - 39.6%

Gillborn - Argues that black Caribbean boys face institutional racism at school and that they are put into lower sets and entered for lower tier exams limiting their chances of success – This can again narrow their future opportunities.

Question 3

Media

Answer 3

Alexander - Asian youths in east London were unfairly targeted by police and the media. The ‘myth’ of the Asian Gang was created whereby the media reported violent clashes between black and Asian gangs. Alexander argues that the Asian boys were criminalised as a result of Islamophobia.

Van Dijk - Used content analysis to study representations of ethnic groups in the UK over a 10 year period and found that the media stereotype black people in 5 ways. These were criminal, abnormal, a threat, unimportant and dependant.

Question 4

Crime

Answer 4

Hood - Black men were more likely than white men to receive custodial sentences for offences which have fines or community services as punishments. This shows evidence of ‘institutional racism’ in the police force

Social Trends Survey (2017) –Black people are almost 7X more likely to be stopped and searched than white people