Ethnicity

• Flaherty et al (2004) - ethnicity

  reasons for high rates of poverty among ethnic minority groups:

  • they are more likely to be unemployed
  • used to have manufacturing jobs and these jobs have declined over the last few decades
  • they are low-skilled thus get low-paid work
  • educational disadvantage
  • living in deprived areas, lack job options
  • poor living condition, impact health
• Arlacki (1997) - ethnicity

  ethnic minority groups experience material deprivation, can lead to social exclusion
• Platt (2005) - ethnicity

  • researched social mobility
  • focused on occupation in 1971 vs 1991
  • Indians maintained achievements into 1991
  • the occupational position of Caribbean people slipped by 1991
  • the occupational position of ethnic women was more dependent on regional origin than for men
• Sedghi (2014) - ethnicity

  • ethnic minorities are still facing barriers to social mobility and job opportunities
  • ethnic minorities outperform their British peers
• Cox (1948) - theory of racism (Marxist)

  • race is a human creation
  • racism is always something that is developed by exploiters against the exploited
  • racism has its origins in the development of capitalism, systematically exploits labour power
  • early capitalism went hand in hand with colonialism
  • if racism is developed to justify exploitation, it cannot be developed by those who are exploited
  • not only white people are capable of racism
  • White people developed capitalism, thus maintained racism first
• Castles and Kosack (1973) - ethnicity (marxist)

  • most immigrants were in low-skilled and low-paid manual jobs in poor conditions
  • this treatment came from the need in capitalist societies for a reserve army of labour and to have a surplus of labour power, to keep wage costs down
  • WW2 wiped out women who were in the reserve army of labour, turned to immigrant labour to provide a cheap pool of workers who could be exploited for profit
• Rattansi (2007) - no fixed stable identities

  • "colour blind" society is not real
  • media and education disadvantage minorities
  • power imbalances caused by colonisation continue to shape social structures
• Jacobson (1997) - ethnicity 


  as a result of social exclusion, young Pakistanis are adopting a strong islamic identity
• James - ethnicity 


  black people in the UK have come from a range of different backgrounds but have created a shared black identity as a result of their common experience of racism
• Patterson (1965) - Immigrant Host Model (functionalist view on ethnicity)

  • ethnic inequalities result from immigrants’ failure to adopt the norms and values of their host culture
  • once they adopt these norms and values, they will no longer face inequality and their ethnicity will no longer matter
• Dodd (2012)

  • muslim women to remove hijabs and get more European names, to beat discrimination in job interviews
  • ‘concrete ceiling’ for ethnic groups in social mobility and employment (barriers due to race that cannot be broken)
• Nightingale and Bourgois (1993)


  black drug-dealing subcultures in the USA are the product of the 'paradox of inclusion', black youth engage in criminality which guarantees their social exclusion because they aim to achieve the material success that other members of society take for granted
• Walby (2012) - intersectionality

  individuals who do not identify as straight, white, Christian women face more oppression due to intersectionality, eg. a black lesbian faces more oppression because she is black and also because she is a lesbian
• Barron and Norris (1976) - dual labour market (Weberian theory)

  • ethnic minorities are less likely than white workers to obtain primary sector (well-paid) jobs due to racism, eg. employers fail to respond to job applications or deny promotion
  • there is weak political framework to support black people, eg. Trade Unions are white dominated
• Rex and Tomlinson (1979) - the rebirth of racism (Weberian view)

  • the experiences of ethnic minority groups can lead to poverty, material disadvantage and social exclusion
  • a black underclass has been created of people who feel marginalised and alienated
• Abott et al - a critique of feminism

  • ignore the experiences of ethnic minority women and focus on white middle class women
  • portray women as victims, ignoring the ways in which ethnic minority women have resisted oppression