MARXISM + ETHNIC INEQUALITIES

Question 1

what do Marxists argue about ethnic inequities?

Answer 1

• pessimistic view
• immigration serves the needs of the capitalist class for labour and seeks to divide workers from each other so that they are easy to control
• capitalism prefers conflicts between ethnic minorities as it is beneficial to the ruling class

Question 2

what did Cox argue about ethnic inequalities?

Answer 2

• race is a human creation
  -racism is developed by the exploiters against the exploited
• early capitalism went hand in hand with colonialism
• racism developed to justify exploitation

Question 3

evaluation of cox

Answer 3

• views to simplistic
• difficult to prove that racism is a capitalist ideology
• no evidence that it functions exclusively as an ideological apparatus
• cox doesn’t treat race as an important factor in its own right because he is mainly interested in economic differences
• labelled as race-blind

Question 4

who researched about immigrant workers in Britain?

Answer 4

Castles and Kosack

Question 5

explain Castles and Kosack’s theory

Answer 5

• most immigrants were concentrated in low-skilled and low-paid manual jobs that were carried out in poor working conditions
• many unemployed
  treatment of immigrants derived from the need in capitalist societies for a reserve army of labour and the necessity to have a surplus of labour-power
• A reserve army of labour needs to be available to be hired and fired at the fortunes of the economy dictated
• scapegoated ethnic minorities

Question 6

A02 for Marxist ethnic inequalities

Answer 6

• Gopi Hinduja and three brothers known as Fab 4 collectively worth 11.9 billion
• rags to riches in the UK
• The Morecambe Bay tragedy =. 23 Chinese cock;e pickers drowned when trapped by sweeping tides while working yet immigrants are still being exploited in the UK after 10 years = forced to work

Question 7

evaluation of Castles and Kosack

Answer 7

• mistake to think all minorities are disadvantaged in the UK = over 5,000 Muslim millionaires in Britain
• many economic immigrants tend to possess higher levels of skills and knowledge

Question 8

who is a neo-Marxist who argues about ethnic inequities?

Answer 8

Miles

Question 9

what did Miles argue?

Answer 9

• Racism, initially used to justify European exploitation, evolved into nationalism after colonialism, where individuals perceived their nation as superior to others.

Question 10

what theory are miles influenced by

Answer 10

Weberian theory

Question 11

what does Miles argue about the class position?

Answer 11

complicated by that they are treated by white society as culturally and socially different
- some minorities set themselves apart from white society by stressing and celebrating their own cultural experiences
- like black people could stress black power through membership in Rastafarian groups while Asians stress the importance of family ties and community
- resulted in ethnic minorities becoming members of racialised class fractions

Question 12

evaluation of miles

Answer 12

• downplays possible cooperation between both groups in trade union movements where people work together to ensure their rights as a worker