Download Inequality, Stratification and Ethnicity

Inequality, Stratification and
Ethnicity
www.educationforum.co.uk
Sociologists make a distinction
between ethnicity and race
• There is no scientific or genetic basis to ideas of
‘race’ with the differences between groups of
humans being tiny
• Ideas of ‘race’ were largely discredited in the early
20th century with pseudo scientific notions such as
Social Darwinism being used to justify horrendous
racial intolerance in places such as Nazi Germany.
• Instead sociologists prefer the concept of ethnicity
which places emphasis on culture (shared norms
and values) rather than on spurious biological
differences. Ethnicity is therefore something which
is socially constructed.
There are still difficulties in using the
concept of ethnicity
• Many often used ‘ethnic groups’ are huge and
subdivided into very different sub groups e.g.
Asian covers an enormous range of different
cultural experiences.
• People within ethnic categories may experience
elements of culture which produce conflicting
categories e.g. Serbs and Croats share a territory
and a language but have different languages.
Strat/Diff and Ethnicity
• According to the Policy Studies Institute ethnic minorities do less
well in employment than whites although the gap is diminishing.
• The pattern however is mixed
• Bangladeshis and Pakistanis do least well whereas Chinese and
African Asians do most well
• Only a very small percentage of Afro Caribbeans hold professional
jobs
• Ethnic minorities are most likely to live in inner city disadvantaged
areas and are less likely to own their own properties though this gap
has decreased significantly
• The issue is also crossed by gender – ethnic minority women tend to
earn more than white women whilst ethnic minority men earn less
than white men
You can draw on examples of inequality by ethnic group
synoptically from the other units you have studies
• Education – Black Caribbean boys are the most
likely group to be excluded from school whereas
Chinese and Indian the least.
• Black Caribbean boys are the lowest achievers
whereas Chinese and Indian the highest achievers
• Health – Pakistani and Bangladeshi people report
the highest levels of ill health whereas Chinese and
Indian people the lowest. Bangladeshi men are far
more likely to smoke than other groups
• Crime – ethnic minorities are far more likely to be
victims of crime, arrested or imprisoned than the
majority population
Some sociologists emphasise structural factors in
explaining ethnic disadvantage.
• Functionalists like Sheila Patterson ‘Dark Strangers’(1965)
suggest that existing disadvantage will gradually ‘melt away’
as a mutual adjustment process between the immigrant and
the host communities kicks in and the meritocratic principles
of society start to take effect. Patterson says racism and
disadvantage are therefore temporary phenomenon whilst the
mutual adjustment process takes place. Eventually and
inevitably the hosts accept the immigrants as permanent
members of the community and the immigrants are
assimilated.
• Functionalists cite as evidence the successful assimilation of
older minority groups in the UK and USA but have been
criticised for assuming that assimilation is somehow
inevitable and ignoring the powerful obstacles of racism and
class conflict.
Marxists suggest that capitalism benefits
from keeping the working class divided.
• Castles and Kosack (1973) ‘Immigrant Workers and
the Class struggle in Western Europe’ say that
capitalism benefits from having a working class
divided by racial tension. Political class
consciousness for the working class remains
impossible so long as such divisions remain. The
power of the working class is thus diminished for so
long as certain ethnic groups regard themselves as
superior to others. A divided working class is easier
to rule. Ethnic division also creates a reserve army of
relatively cheap ethnic minority labour. Capitalism
therefore encourages ethnic division and
disadvantage.
Weberians
• Weberians like John Rex ‘Race Relations in
sociological theory ‘ 1970 claim that ethnic
minorities are themselves structurally distinct
from the rest of the working class in that they
occupy the position of ‘underclass’ both beneath
and alienated (cut off from) the rest of the
working class.
• Due to this position ethnic minorities have low
status and much worse life chances than other
workers
New Right sociologists use cultural
explanations of ethnic disadvantage
• Charles Murray suggests that it is the distinct sub
culture of some ethnic minorities which causes their
disadvantage. Such sub culture is characterised as
being one that leads to dependency on State benefits
and ultimately leads to poverty because within it is a
fundamental unwillingness to work, a tendency to
value criminal activity and a preponderance of
single parent families frequently headed by the
mother. Murray recognises there is an underclass
but argues that it is created by the beliefs and
behaviour patterns of the members of that
underclass – in other words their disadvantage is
their own fault.
Criticisms of New Right
• New Right ideas have been challenged by
sociologists who argue that is ‘blaming the
victim’ they are ignoring both the damaging
influence of racism and the structural causes of
poverty in explaining inequality.
Rally Coach
• 1.Why do sociologists use the term ethnicity and
not race?
• 2.List the ways in which there can be said to be
differences in life chances between different
ethnic groups.
• 3.Briefly outline three different structural
explanations for ethnic disadvantage.
• 4.Outline New Right explanations for ethnic
disadvantage and give two criticisms of them