Ethnicity: Patterns and trends

Question 1

Percentages of ethnicities in the UK:

Answer 1

83% = white
8% = Asian
3% = Black

Question 2

Work and employment: Ethnicity

Answer 2

• Institutionalised racism: Based on prejudiced norms.
• Often due to non-racist individuals who conform to these practises and end up functioning as if they are racist.
• This means there are a larger number of ethnic minorities who are unemployed and arrested.

Question 3

Katz:

Answer 3

• Obsession with-time keeping is a white cultural norm – this is not a norm shared by ethnic minority cultures.
• Says that punishing Black/Asian students for being late is institutionally racist.

Question 4

Wood:

Answer 4

• Discrimination in the work place was in favour of white names over similar applicants from ethnic minority groups. - Also suggested more discrimination in the private sector than the public sector.

Question 5

Heath and Yu

Answer 5

• First generation Black, Indian and Pakistani faced significant ethnic penalties.
• This meant that it was harder for ethnic minorities to gain managerial jobs.

Question 6

Battu and Sloane:

Answer 6

• Ethnic minorities are likely to be over-educated in employment compared to white people.
• Have the qualifications to achieve higher jobs but due to discrimination they are unable to get there.

Question 7

Davidson:

Answer 7

• Used the ‘concrete ceiling’ to describe the discrimination that ethnic minority women face which prevents the from being promoted.
• Ethnic minority women have an even harder job of progressing in work as though unlike the glass ceiling, there is a very limited chance of them getting through it.

Question 8

Joseph Rowntree Foundation: Income and wealth

Answer 8

• Ethnic minorities have lower earning than comparable white groups.
• Bangladeshi’s experience the worst income inequality of a 20% earning deficit

Question 9

Rowlingson and McKay:

Answer 9

• Found White British people in managerial occupations had greater wealth than ethnic minority people in the same positions.

Question 10

ONS ethnicity and income statistics:

Answer 10

• 2/5 ethnic minorities live in low income households

Question 11

Runnymede report:

Answer 11

• Ethnic minorities are 3 times more likely than white people to experience poverty whilst in retirement
• Also found that older people from ethnic minority groups faced language barriers meaning they had trouble accessing and navigating a complex pensions system.

Question 12

Flaherty:

Answer 12

Suggested a number of reasons for high rates of poverty among ethnic minority groups:
- They are more likely to be unemployed
- Many ethnic minorities used to work in manual labour jobs and these jobs have significantly decreased over the last few decades meaning more of them are unemployed
- Many ethnic minorities have low-skill jobs and therefore have low pay
- May find it difficult to escape poverty because they live in deprived areas where there is limited job opportunities and the schools quality isn’t good

Question 13

Alcock:

Answer 13

• Many ethnic minority groups experience maternal deprivation which leads to social exclusion
• Claims that deprivation in housing, health and education adds to the financial inequality that Black people face
• Material deprivation further impacts ethnic minorities as it can lead to racial harassment leaving these groups feeling even more isolated.

Question 14

Evandrou:

Answer 14

• White elderly had the lowest levels of income poverty
• 60% of Bangladeshi and Pakistani elderly were in income poverty

Question 15

Platt:

Answer 15

• Researched intergenerational social mobility of ethnic minority groups by analysing the ONS longitudinal study.
• Specifically looked at where ethnic minorities were in the occupational structure in 1971 and then later in 1991.
• Those with higher occupational attainment in the 70’s were able to maintain these achievements in the next generation (Indian)
• Whereas, Caribbean people’s occupational position had slipped by 1991.

Question 16

Sedghi:

Answer 16

• Despite levels of educational attainment improving from ethnic minorities, they are still facing barriers to jobs and mobility.
• Report found that Chinese, Indian, Bangladeshi and black African students were outperforming white peers however under 5% of Bangladeshi people were recorded as having a degree-level qualification

Question 17

Heath and Li

Answer 17

• Looked at 40 years of data to define the rates of social mobility by identifying the percentage of those who moved up or down in occupational class of their father.
• 44% of white people moved up to a higher social class than their father.
• First-generation Black, Pakistani and Indian groups had much lower upward social mobility.