Lecture 4- race and diversity Flashcards
What is race?
- The physical characteristics that tend to distinguish one group of people from another group of people (e.g. skin colour, body type, hair texture etc)
- Most people consider race to be inherited and unchangeable
Link between sociology and science
- Genetically we are 99.9% the same
- There’s no gene for “whiteness” or “blackness” or “Asian-ness”
- We are one human race that descended from a common ancestor in Africa
Race history
- Race emerged with the European colonisation of Africa and South America and the enslavement of Africans
- Ascribed to individuals on the basis of physical traits that society deems to be ‘important’ (e.g. skin colour, but not eye colour)
- Changes over time and in relation to historical and political events
What is ethnicity
- Denotes a social group that shares a common identity
- Based on language, religion, cultural practices, geography
- Not always observable
What are BME, BAME, ethnic minorties and people of colour refered to?
refer to race and ethnicity
The terms BME/BAME highlight particular groups while omitting others
(CIPD, 2021)
How many people in the 2021 Census describe themself as white british
74.4% (GOV, 2021)
Which cities have become the first ‘super’ diverse cities within the UK
Leicester, Luton, and Birmingham, most people from ethnic minority backgrounds
Race is an umbrella term, what does it include?
- Colour
- Ethnic origin: A group share the same history and cultural traditions (Courts have ruled that Irish Travellers, Jews, Romany Gypsies and Sikhs are all ethnic groups)
- National origin: County of birth
- Nationality: Citizenship
Ethnic penalty within the workforce
1 in 8 of the working age population are from an ethnic minority background, but make up only 10% of the workforce
Explanation for ethnic unemployment differentials
he concentration of ethnic minorities in areas with fewer job opportunities, and their lower willingness to commute long distances for work (Wasmer, 2014)
What is occupational segregation
- Underrepresentation in higher paid non-manual occupations
- BME hold only 6% of top management positions (CMI, 2020)
Causes of occupational segregation
- Discrimination
- Lack of role models
- Low level of line manager support (CIPD, 2017)
Is the pay gap between minorities published like gender?
No law to do this although some organisations do
How many BME workers have experienced bullying in the workplace
31% of BME workers have experienced bullying and harassment at work and 20% of BME workers say they have received unfair treatment at work because of their ethnicity (TUC, 2019)
How many black employees experienced racism in 2021
(Konolda, 2021)
- Surveyed 1,203 UK employees and found 52% had witnessed racism at work
- 28% took no action following the event
- Of those who didn’t report it , 41% said this was because they feared the consequences
What is the critical theory? Bell, 1995
- Idea that race is a social contruct (culturally invented) rather than a biological grounded feature
Does not focus on individual acts of racial discrimination and prejudice - Racism is deeply embedded systems of inequality in society through the legal system and policies which produce and reproduced inequality
- Society is structured to keep ethnic minorities from power
- Every institution reinforces the system
= Critique society and power
Reveal and challenge power structures
Anti racism
- We are socialised to think that racists are bad
- “I’m not racist”, “I don’t see colour”, “I was taught to treat everyone the same”
- Binary “good/bad” construct of “not racist/racist” keeps racism in place
- Kendi (2020) and DiAngelo (2018) argue that taking a neutral position is part of the problem
Legal definition of relgion
- The Equality Act (UK) does not explicitly define ‘religion’ or ‘belief’
- It leaves it open for employment tribunals to decide
- They may consider a number of factors when deciding what is a religion or similar belief such as: collective worship, a clear belief system, a profound belief affecting the way of life or view of the world
2 views about relgion in the workplace
- One view is that religious faith should be a purely private matter and the workplace is purely a secular environment
- Workplaces should be ‘neutral’ spaces
- Another view is that an individual’s faith is often embedded within them giving them a ‘frame of reference’ by means of which they look at the world
- For many people, work and religion cannot be separated
Barriers to religious diversity in the workplace
- Conscious exclusion and unconscious bias
- Lack of understanding of different cultures within the workplace (and broader society)
- Harassment at work
Harassment study (ComRes Faith Research Centre, 2021)
- A survey of 984 British workers found that 3% of employees had experienced discrimination because of their religion
Religion and daily routine
- For religious employees their daily activities (e.g. eating, dressing and existing) will manifest in the workplace
- Facilities and working policies may be incompatible with particular religious practices
- Accommodating religious needs can support equal opportunities, diversity and inclusion
The role of work in employees life is expanding.
Dress and symbols
- An employer may decide to restrict employees from wearing religious symbols:
- Health and safety reasons
- To create ‘neutral’ work environment
- However, in many cases these restrictions do not consider the perspective of the religious employees and the importance attached to religious symbols
Accomodating dress and symbols
- Consider whether restrictions are completely necessary
- Explore compromise
- Rethink ‘neutrality’, i.e. are policies ‘neutral’?:
Court ruleing examples- discrimination against dress and symbols
- In 2013 the European Court of Human rights (EHRC) ruled that a Christian employee had her human rights breached by not being allowed to wear a visible cross at British Airways
- However, in the same case a Christian nurse lost her claim for discrimination after she refused to remove her crucifix, due to health and safety reasons
Workshops and prayer times
- Followers of some religions are required to pray at specific times in the course of the day
- Other individuals may want to pray or contemplate within the workplace
- A lack of flexible working and the absence of dedicated spaces for prayer can result in religious employees being unable to perform their religious duties in the way they wish to
- This can generate feelings of discomfort and impact levels of enthusiasm in the workplace
how to overcome issues with prayer times
- This can generate feelings of discomfort and impact levels of enthusiasm in the workplace
- Consider whether it is practical and reasonable for employees to schedule their breaks to coincide with prayer times
- Employers are not required to provide a prayer room, however, if a quiet place is available, and allowing its use for prayer does not cause disruption for other workers or the business, it is good practice to agree to the request
Accomodating religious belief
- There is no legal requirement for employers to accommodate religion and belief
- If employees need an accommodation to practice their religion then they should ask their employer
- The employer should be seen to make a reasonable effort to satisfy that accommodation
- They don’t have to meet the accommodation in all of its particulars and they can reject it
- In addition, when religion and belief are not accommodated, claims of indirect discrimination may result
(Bader et al., 2013)
Harvard business school study- workplace spiritualiy and workplace performance
Examined 10 companies with high spirtuality and 10 with weak corperate cultures, in an 11 year period researchers found a strong correlation between a organisations corpeate culture and profitability. In some cases the more spritied companies outperfromed the less spirited companies by 400-500% in terms of net earings (Garcia‐Zamor, 2003)
longitudnal study- more powerful than cross-cultural in terms of cause and effect
