ETHNIC INEQUALITIES - PERSPECTIVES Flashcards
What is the functionalist view on ethnic inequality?
Early ethnic inequalities experienced by immigrants were the product of their cultural difference and relatively low level of skills.
They believed that in a meritocratic society, ethnic inequalities would decline
Patterson
What is Patterson’s host immigration model?
Britain was a stable, homogenous and orderly society with a high degree of consensus over norms and values
This was disrupted by the arrivals of immigrants in the 1950s, who subscribed to different norms and values
Resulted in a culture clash between the immigrants and the host community
These “clashes” were understandable fears and anxieties on part of the host community - they were not “racist” just unsure how to act
Three causes of ethnic inequality:
Host culture’s fear of the cultural difference of the immigrant “strangers” and the social change they will bring
Host culture’s resentment to having to compete with immigrants for scarce resources (jobs and housing)
The failure of immigrants to assimilate
Three stages immigrants go through before assimilating into host society:
Accommodation - adaptation to and acceptance of mainstream culture
Integration - when hosts and immigrants socialise with one another outside of work
Assimilation - complete assimilation of the immigrants into mainstream society, and complete acceptance of them by the rest of society
What is evaluation of Patterson?
Naive to assume that all ethnic minorities assimilate into British culture - racism of police, culture of casual racism in media, hate crimes etc
Postmodernists would argue that Britain is a multicultural society where different ethnic minorities co-exist and this should be celebrated
Marxists would say that this ignores the role of capitalism and his the division of people by race helps maintain the capitalist structure - assimilation is impossible to achieve
What is the marxist view on ethnic inequality?
Immigration serves the needs of the capitalist class for labour, and is used to divide workers from each other so they are easy to control. Capitalism prefers conflict between ethnic groups
Cox, Castles and Kosack, Miles
What does Cox argue?
Racism has origins in capitalism with its need to exploit labour power
Early capitalism went hand in hand with colonialism - European nations conquered others areas of the world and explored the workforce and justified actions through racism and white supremacy
Racism cannot be developed by those who are exploited - not only white people who are capable of racism by they developed capitalism and thus racism
What is evaluation of Cox?
Views are too simplistic - difficult to prove that racism is a capitalist ideology
Does not treat race as an important factors in its own right because he is mainly interested in the economic differences caused by capitalism
Labelled as “race blind”
What did Castles and Kosack argue?
Most immigrants concentrated in low-skilled and low-paid manual jobs, carried out in poor conditions
In Britain, this treatment of immigrants derived from the need in capitalist societies for a reserve army of labour and necessary to have a surplus labour power to keep wages down
Capitalist economies inherently unstable - underwent periods of “boom” and “slump” and a reserve army needed to be hired and fired due to fluctuating fortunes of the economy
After WW2, capitalist societies exhausted their indigenous reserves army of labour: women - countries in Europe turned to immigrant labour
Arrival of immigrants led to division of working class - indigenous whites at the top and working class and immigrant workers at the bottom
“Divide-and-rule” benefits ruling class as it’s surprised wages of working class and immigrants could be scapegoated
Working class became too divided - could not unite and overthrow capitalist system
What is evaluation of Castles and Kosack?
It is a big mistake to think that all ethnic minorities are disadvantaged in the UK e.g. stats suggest that there are over 5,000 Muslim billionaires
De-industrialisation has changed the nature of economic immigrants - higher skill levels and knowledge
Who are the Hindujas?
2014 - Hinduja and his three brothers were collectively worth £11.9bn, making them Britain’s wealthiest men
They are from India, building their empire from nothing to now becoming neighbours of the Queen of England
What was the Morecombe Bay Tragedy?
24 Chinese cockle pickers drowned by being trapped by sweeping tides whilst working on Morecambe Bay
21 bodies recovered from the bay; victims ages between 18 and 45
All worked illegally, picking cockles for hours to send money back to families
Gradwell (investigator) argued that the main reason for the deaths was as a result of the exploitation of the workers who are working in dangerous conditions in the UK
What did Miles argue (Neo-marxist)?
Racism originally used to justify exploitation of non-Europeans
By the end of colonislam, the type of racism that saw grouping people by inferiority and superiority was replaced with nationalism
Influence of Weberian theory: the concept of status should be used alongside concept of class to explain racism and racial inequality
Class position of ethnic minorities is complicated as they are treated as culturally and socially different by White society
Some ethnic minorities have fallen victim to racism in some domains of society
Some ethnic minorities may set themselves apart from White majority by stressing and celebrating cultural uniqueness
Ethnic minorities have become members of “radicalised class fractions” - further reinforced when White working class stress important of their ethnicity and nationality through prejudice and discrimination
Ethnic minorities may reach to racism by stressing own ethnicity even more by observing their cultural and religious traditions overtly
Evidence of increasing numbers of ethnic minorities entering ranks of professional middle class - many White middle class professionals/managers may not accept this
Many White working class may not perceive middle class ethnic minorities as having a higher status - even if they do experience social class inequality, they are not immune to experiencing status inequality and therefore class and status are not linked
What is evaluation of Miles?
Recognises importance of status and how it can cut across class lines which helps explain some divisions
Downplays possible cooperation between both groups in trade union movements
What does Weber argue about ethnic inequality?
Defines class in terms of market situation and work situation
Status inequality:
Status groups can be competitive and aim to achieve “social closure” which means they try to monopolise privilege and exclude other groups
Status and power in the hands on majority groups making it hard for ethnic minorities to compete equally for jobs, housing etc
Status could divide a class group or even cut across class differences - ethnic inequality suffer social class and status inequality
Party:
A group that forms in order to gain power and in doing so reflects and promotes own interests
Status groups, as well as economically based class groups can form the basis for political action
Trade unions dominated by White members - ethnic minorities aren’t heard
What is evaluation of Weber?
Useful as it suggests that there are other sources of power besides economic
Useful insight into the nature of ethnic differences in contemporary society
Still does not provide any way to distinguish between the relative importance of the different types of inequality
What did Barron and Norris argue?
Primary labour market - well-paid, secure jobs with good promotional aspects
Secondary labour market - worst jobs, lowest pay, worse conditions, least job security and very few promotional aspects
White men dominated primary labour market
Ethnic minorities concentrated in secondary labour market - employers subscribe to racist beliefs and practice discrimination
Cultural discrimination exists and stratification is nor purely economic but also cultural factors
Legal and political framework supporting Black and Asian people is weak
