key sociologists

• Wood et al - Work & employment

  Found that discrimination if favour of white names over equivalent applications from candidates from a number of ethnic minority groups was 29 %.
• Heath & Yu - Work & employment


  Examined the evolution of ethnic penalties using data from the General Household Survey & the Labour Force Survey.

  Found that 1st-generation Black, Indian & Pakistani male migrants (born 1940-59) faced significant ethnic penalties in terms of access to professional/managerial jobs.
• Battu & Sloane - Work & employment


  Argue that ethnic minorities in employment are more likely to be overeducated than the White group in the UK; so employment rates might not give a complete indication of the welfare of particular groups if those groups are doing jobs for which they are overeducated.
• Davidson - Work & employment


  Used the term 'concrete ceiling' to describe the embedded discrimination that prevents ethnic minority women being promoted.

  Women from ethnic minority groups report their journey to the highest levels is more difficult than white women.

  The concrete ceiling is impenetrable.
• Rowlingson & McKay - Income & wealth


  Controlled for differences in occupational class to consider the particular effect of ethnicity on wealth inequality.

  Their research findings revealed that White British people in managerial occupations had greater wealth than other ethnic groups in the same positions but that White British people in intermediate & non-manual positions had less wealth than Asian or Asian British/Indian groups in these positions.

  Black or Black British/ Black Caribbean people had considerably lower levels of wealth than other ethnic groups after controlling for occupation.
• Evandrou - Poverty


  Explored the poverty of older people & how it varied by ethnicity.

  Found the white elderly had the lowest levels of income poverty followed by Irish, then Black Caribbean, then India elderly, with up to 60% of the Pakistani & Bangladeshi elderly were in income poverty.
• Flaherty et al - Poverty


  Suggest a number of reasons for high rates of poverty among ethnic minority groups including the following:

  Members of ethnic minority households are more likely to be unemployed compared to whites.

  Many ethnic minorities used to work in the manufacturing sector & these jobs have significantly declined.

  Ethnic minorities may find it difficult to escape poverty because they tend to live in deprived areas.

  Many ethnic minorities are likely to live in poor-quality, overcrowded & damp housing.
• Alcock - Poverty


  Argues that many ethnic minority groups experience material deprivation & that this can lead to social exclusion.

  Claims that 'deprivation in housing, health & education adds significantly to the financial inequality of Black people, & they have remained important despite the introduction in the 1960s of the race relations legislation'.

  Argues that material deprivation maybe further exacerbated by racial harassment, which can have the effect of making ethnic minorities feel even more isolated.
• Platt - Social mobility

  Researched intergenerational social mobility of ethnic minorities over time.

  Found that, of those with higher occupation attainment in the 1st generation, Indians were able to maintain these achievements in the next generation, in contrast the relative occupational position of Caribbeans has slipped by 1991.

  Reported that the occupational position of women from te ethnic minority communities was more dependent on their origins than it was for men.

  Found that Caribbeans, Black Africans, Indians, Chinese & others experienced upward occupational mobility relative to the White UK-born, after origins had been taken into account. However, the Pakistani & Bangladeshi groups performed less well in terms of occupational achievement.

  Examined information on religion from the 2001 Census & reported that some diversity existed with South Asian groups in patterns of educational performance; eg, in the Indian groups, Hindus outperformed Sikhs.
• Sedghi (Journalist) - Social mobility

  Reports that despite levels of educational attainment improving significantly for ethnic minorities, they are still facing barriers to social mobility & job opportunities.

  Highlighted that Chinese, Indian, Irish, Bangladeshi & black African students are outperforming their white British peers in obtaining 5 or more GCSEs at grade A*-C.

  Though the increased educational success of ethnic minority groups has translated into the growth in the number of ethnic minorities in professional & managerial employment, the report indicated that they are still facing 'significant barriers to enjoying the levels of social mobility of their British peers'.

  Key findings:

  Black African & black Caribbean women have experienced a 15-20% fall in full-time employment rates over the past decade.

  39% of Bangladeshi women & 35% of Bangladeshi men work part-time, double the levels of 2 decades ago.
• Heath & Li - Social mobility

  Found that: '43% of white men & 45.6& of white women moved up to a higher socio-economic class than their father, & in contrast 1st-generation black African, Indian & Pakistani & Bangladeshi groups had significantly lower upwards mobility rates. Just 34.3% of 1st-generation Pakistani & Bangladeshi men & 27.6% of Pakistani & Bangladeshi women moved up from the socio-economic class of their father'.
• Patterson (Functionalism) - Host-immigration model

  Presented Britain as a stable, homogeneous & orderly society with a high degree of consensus over norms & values, however, this equilibrium was disrupted by the arrival of immigrants in the 50s who subscribed to very different sets of norms & values.

  Argued this resulted in a culture clash between the immigrants & the host community.

  Interpreted these clashes in terms of understandable fears & anxieties on the part of the host community.

  Claimed the hosts were not actually racist, just very unsure about how to act towards the newcomers.
• Patterson (Functionalism) - Host-immigration model: Causes of ethnic inequality

  Suggested that there were 3 causes of ethnic inequality:

  1. The host culture's fear of the cultural difference of the immigrant 'strangers' & the social change they bring to society.

  2. The host culture's resentment of having to compete with immigrants for scarce resources, eg. jobs & housing.

  3. The failure of immigrants to assimilate, ie. to become totally 'British' & integrate.

  Implied that ethnic minorities who continued to practise their native cultural norms & values in the public domain could potentially experience some hostility from their host culture, because cultural strangeness had the potential to make the host culture anxious.

  Reasonably optimistic about the long-term prospects for racial harmony.

  Thought that Britain's immigrants would eventually move toward full cultural assimilation by shedding their 'old' ethnic values & taking on the values of the host society.
• Cox (Marxism)


  Stressed that the idea that 'race' is itself a human creation. Racism is always something that is developed by exploiters against the exploited.

  Argues that racism has its origins in the development of capitalism, with its need to systematically exploit labour power.

  Argues that early capitalism went hand in hand with colonialism, as European nations conquered other areas of the world, they were able to exploit the workforce in those colonies & they justified their actions through racism.

  Argues that if racism is developed to justify exploitation, it cannot be developed by those who are exploited - it was White people who developed capitalism & therefore it was they who first developed racism.

  If capitalism had not developed, then the world may never have experienced racial prejudice.
• Castles & Kosack (Marxism) - Reserve army of labour


  Found that most immigrants were concentrated in low-skilled & low-paid manual jobs that were mainly carried out in poor working conditions.

  Claimed in Britain this treatment of immigrants ultimately derived from the need in capitalist societies for a reserve army of labour; it was necessary to have a surplus of labour power in order to keep wage costs down - the greater the overall supply of labour power, thee weaker the bargaining position of existing workers became.

  Believed that capitalist economies were inherently unstable, the underwent periods of boom & slump, & a reserve army of labour needed to be available to be hired & fired as the fluctuating fortunes of the economy dictated.
• Castles & Kosack (Marxism) - Division of the working-class

  The arrival of immigrants led to the working class being divided into 2 groups, with the indigenous white population becoming the top layer of the working class & the immigrant workers becoming a distinctive grouping at the bottom.

  Argue this divide-&-rule tactic was beneficial to the ruling class as it suppressed the overall wage levels of the working classes & immigrants could be scapegoated, thus allowing the capitalist class to divert the white working class' attention from the real cause of inequalities: capitalism.

  This meant the working class became too divided to unite & overthrow the capitalist system.
• Miles (Marxism)


  Argues that racism was originally used to justify the exploitation of non-Europeans in various parts of the world.

  Argues that by the end of colonialism, the type of racism that saw different types of biological grouping as superior or inferior to others was replaced with nationalism.

  Influenced by Weberian theory, argues that the concept of status should be used alongside the concept of class to explain racism & racial inequality.

  Argues the class position of ethnic minorities is complicated by the fact that they are treated by White society as culturally & socially different.
• Miles (Marxism) - Radicalised class fractions


  Some ethnic minorities have fallen victim to racism in some domains of society, whilst, some ethnic minorities may set themselves apart from the White majority by stressing & celebrating their own cultural uniqueness - as a result of these two processes, ethnic minority groups become members of 'racialised class fraction'.

  These racialised class fractions, are further reinforced when the White working class stress the importance of their ethnicity & nationality through prejudice & discrimination, & when ethnic minorities react to such racism by stressing their own ethnicity even more by observing their cultural & religious traditions overtly.
• Miles (Marxism) - Employment & status


  Argues there is evidence that increasing numbers of ethnic minorities are entering the ranks of the professional middle class, though this is often into the lower middle-class positions where status & pay are not very high.

  Points out that racism probably means that many White middle-class professionals/managers may not accept the fact that middle-class ethnic minorities have the same status as them.

  Many of the White working class may not perceive middle-class ethnic minorities as having a higher status compared to themselves.

  Even if ethnic minorities don't experience social class inequality, they aren't immune to experiencing status inequality & therefore class & status are not inextricably linked.
• Barron & Norris (Weberian theory) - Dual labour market theory

  Demonstrates how racial prejudice & discrimination can be seen in the distribution of ethnic minorities in the labour force.

  Distinguished between the primary labour market consisting of well-paid, secure jobs & the secondary labour market consisting of the worst jobs, lowest pay & worse conditions.

  Reported that White men dominated the primary labour market & ethnic minorities were concentrated in the secondary labour market due to their lower cultural status.

  Acknowledges that cultural discrimination exists & that stratification is not purely economic; the existence of status groups based on ethnicity shows that stratification can also occur of the basis of cultural factors.

  Argue that ethnic minorities tend to be concentrated in the secondary labour market because many employers subscribe to racist beliefs about the unsuitability of Black & Asian people & may even practise discrimination against them, either by ni employing them or denying them promotion.
• Davidson - Evaluation of Barron & Norris


  Used the term 'concrete ceiling' to describe the embedded discrimination that prevents ethnic minority women being promoted.

  The concrete ceiling is impenetrable.
• Rex & Tomlinson (Weberian theory)


  Study in the Handsworth area of Birmingham.

  Revealed that the material disadvantage experienced by ethnic minorities was so great that it actually cut them off from the White working-class group.

  Found that ethnic minorities formed a separate underclass beneath the White working class, where they experienced disadvantage with regard to the labour market, housing & education - these disadvantages were worsened by the hostility directed at them by white society.
• Rex & Tomlinson (Weberian theory) - Black underclass

  Argued that a Black underclass had been created, consisting of people who felt marginalised, alienated & frustrated.

  The Black underclass' experience of status inequality was further compounded by them feeling as if they had been socially excluded from the standard of living that most other members of society took for granted.

  These feelings had the potential to occasionally erupt in the form of inner-city riots.

  Concluded that in a capitalist society, the underclass are the ultimate victims & ethnic minorities are heavily concentrated within the underclass.
• Abbott et al (Black feminism)


  Argue previous strands of feminism have:

  Been ethnocentric - concentrating on women's experience derived from white middle-class perspectives.

  Perpetuated a 'victim ideology', eg. viewed black women as the helpless victims of racism & sexism.

  Practised theoretical racism, eg. expected black women to write about their own experiences rather than contribute to the development of feminist theory as a whole.
• Brewer (Black feminism)


  Sees the basis of Black feminist theory as an 'understanding of race, class & gender as simultaneous forces'.

  Black women suffer from disadvantages because they are black, because they are women & because they are working class, but their problems are more than the sum of these parts; each inequality reinforces & multiplies the other inequalities,

  Distinctive feature of Black feminism is that it studies the 'interplay' of race, class & gender in shaping the lives & restricting the life chances of black women.
• Mirza (Black feminism)


  Argues that there is a need for a distinctive Black feminism.

  Believes that Black women can make an important contribution to the development of feminist theory.

  Black feminists can challenge the distorted assumptions of dominant groups by drawing on their own experiences, & in doing so can offer other ways of thinking that can 'invoke some measure of critical race/gender reflexivity into mainstream academic thinking'.
• Connell (Black feminism)


  Stresses the links between Black feminism & postcolonial feminism.

  Postcolonial feminism is concerned with explaining gender inequalities that were caused by colonialism, particularly in developing countries - gender inequalities established in colonial times are often embedded in current attitudes towards race, ethnicity & gender.

  Stresses the importance of developing feminist perspective that challenge the dominance of Western feminism; this is because Connell believes most women live in the 'majority world' of the southern continents.
• Murray (New Right) - USA


  Argued the USA had a growing underclass that posed a serious threat to American society.

  Expressed concerns that government policies were encouraging increasing numbers of American to become dependent on benefits.

  Claimed welfare reforms led to an increase in the number of never-married black single mothers, & many black youth

  losing interest in getting a job.

  Argued that increases in the levels of benefits were counterproductive as they discourage self-sufficiency & were costly to tax payers.
• Murray (New Right) - Behaviour of the underclass

  Argued that Britain too had developed an underclass.

  Defined the underclass in terms of behaviour - said their homes were littered & unkempt, the men were unable to hold down a job for more than a few weeks at a time, drunkenness was common, & the children grew up ill-schooled & ill-behaved & often became local juvenile delinquents
• Murray (New Right) - Britian


  Described himself as a visitor from a plagued area coming to see if the disease has spread, found Britain too had been infected.

  Signs consisted of figures showing rising rates of illegitimacy, a raising crime rate & an alleged unwillingness among many of Britain's youth to take jobs.

  Traditional values such as beliefs in honesty, family life & hard work had been seriously undermined.

  As a consequence, increasing numbers of children were being raised in a situation where they were likely to take on the underclass values of their parents.
• Sewell (New Right)


  Argues that a high proportion of African-Caribbean boys are raised by lone-parent families.

  57% of African-Caribbean families with dependent children were headed by lone parents, compared with 25% of white families - so many black boys lacked the male role model & the discipline provided by a father figure.

  Argues that the absence of a male role model/disciplinarian within the family makes young African-Caribbean boys more vulnerable to peer pressure. Eg, some young boys are drawn into gangs that emphasise an aggressive, macho form of masculinity.

  This form of black masculinity is then reflected & reinforced by the media, with gangster rap & hip-hop fashions & news reports emphasising black street crime & gun culture.