'Race', employment and social change: a critique of current orthodoxies

Virdee, S. (2006) 'Race', employment and social change: a critique of current orthodoxies. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 29(4), pp. 605-628. (doi: 10.1080/01419870600665243)

Full text not currently available from Enlighten.

Abstract

This article focuses on two important questions. First, how can we explain changes in the employment position of England's racialized minority groups over the past three decades? And second, why have these changes taken place at a different pace for different minority groups? It is argued that much of the increase in Asian self-employment represents working-class accommodation to the inferior conditions of employment available under neo-liberal modernity rather than evidence of upward social mobility as current orthodoxy claims. It is also contended that the growing representation of minorities in junior non-manual work was driven by anti-racist activism around a racialized 'black' identity & confirms the continuing significance of 'race' in the English labour market. By unravelling the complex relationship between the geographical distribution of different minority groups, their educational qualifications, anti-racist activism, & racism, the study establishes why such employment change has taken place at a different pace for different minority groups.

Item Type:Articles
Keywords:Employment, Ethnic Groups, Racial Relations, Racism, Social Change, Identity
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Virdee, Professor Satnam
Authors: Virdee, S.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
Journal Name:Ethnic and Racial Studies
Publisher:Routledge
ISSN:0141-9870
ISSN (Online):1466-4356
Published Online:16 August 2006

University Staff: Request a correction | Enlighten Editors: Update this record