6. Define the concept of ‘ethnic penalties’ and discuss the mechanisms that can lead ethnic minorities to be disadvantaged in schooling, employment and cultural life. Use specific examples or evidence to support your claims.
“Institutionalized rejection of difference is an absolute necessity in a profit economy which needs outsiders as surplus people.” (Lorde, 1984: 115) This quote by black feminist scholar, Audre Lorde, very aptly surmises the general view the Western world and their economies take of the differences that separate us. As she says herself, we have ‘no patterns for relating across our human differences as equals’ (Lorde, 1984: 115), and so we are equated by a superiority/inferiority complex of sorts. Speaking specifically in the case of racial prejudice, it is, of course, fair to say it is less overt and openly tolerated than it once was, but truthfully, ‘discrimination has become insidious’ (Lamptey, 2014) - difficult to discern and characterised by the ‘penalties’ expelled upon ethnic minorities. In an almost predator-prey relationship, one race (the majority) prospers while others (the minority) suffer – simply on account of their ethnicity. Minorities are most affected in their schooling, employment and cultural life – and the disparity experienced by such minorities and their white counterparts ‘cannot fully be explained by differences in human capitol or demographic characteristics. The remaining unexplained component of such differences has been termed the ‘ethnic penalty’’ (Rafferty, 2012: 987). Essentially, this term can be defined as ‘an additional cost incurred for being a member of a minority ethnic group’ (Lamptey, 2014). Thus, for the purpose of my essay, I will discuss how ethnic penalties influence the aforementioned aspects of life, but moreover, how they are aided by mechanisms of discrimination, socio-economic class, ethnic segregation and occupational segregation.
Ethnic minorities experience ‘penalties’ throughout their education and this can largely be attributed to the issues of socio-economic class, ethnic segregation and discrimination/racism. Although some of the struggles minorities face can be explained by the process of migration itself; ‘lack of fluency in the language of the population and possession of foreign education credentials and foreign work experience’ (Heath et al, 2008: 212) etc. Studies in Western Europe on second generation migrants tell a different story. These are people who have been born and bred in the host country, and by virtue have acquired a fluency in the majority language, domestic qualifications, and domestic work experience. Yet their apparent equal credentials still leave them on an unequal footing to their majority peers. A possible explanation for this is the geographical concentration of ethnic minorities, whereby a minority group can often be found living in close proximity ‘in areas of relatively high social deprivation’ (Heath et al, 2008: 224). With this aggregat...
