WJEC Eduqas GCSE Sociology Revision Guide

Ethnicity, life-chances and inequality Chapter 4  Social differentiation and stratification 70 The figures refer to the per cent of students receiving exclusions from school in 2017. per cent of students with a fixed term exclusion per cent of students permanently excluded Bangladeshi 2.05 0.04 Indian 0.9 0.02 Pakistani 2.75 0.07 Black Caribbean 10.08 0.29 Black African 4.42 0.09 White 5.14 0.10 Mixed ethnicity 5.98 0.14 Chinese 0.56 0.01 Source https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service. gov.uk/education-skills-and-training/absence-and- exclusions/pupil-exclusions/latest Which groups are most likely to be excluded from school? How would you explain the figures for some of the groups? AO2 Apply Take it further What else would you want to know that the figures do not tell you? Link to textbook pp 160–161: Issues of race and ethnicity in 21st-century UK pp 162–163: How does the media portray different ethnic groups? pp 164–165: How does ethnicity affect life- chances? Ethnicity and inequality Race and ethnicity are not the same. The idea of different races is linked to biology. The idea of race has often been misused to justify racism, e.g. Hitler and the Jews. Ethnicity is used by sociologists and refers to people’s culture and may include nationality, religion, traditions and way of life. The UK is a society which contains very diverse ethnic groups. This is a result of the UK’s history of being invaded but also having had a global empire. The UK has struggled at times to live up to the welcome that it offered the individuals who lived in other parts of the British Empire after the Second World War. Racism has been a concern on two levels. There are minority far-right groups who attempt to cause conflict through racist propaganda. However, in some ways a greater concern has been the persistence of institutional racism shown in the Stephen Lawrence case and identified in the Macpherson Report. Racism includes prejudice and discrimination against people because of their race, ethnicity, nationality and/or religion. Legislation has been passed which has aimed to reduce racism and discrimination in the UK. Many laws have been passed promoting equality for people regardless of their ethnic background. The 1965 Race Relations Act banned racial discrimination in public places and the promotion of hatred related to colour, race, ethnicity or nationality. The act failed to protect ethnic minorities from discrimination when trying to secure jobs or housing. There were further race relations acts in 1968, 1976 and 2000. In 1976 the CRE (Commission for Racial Equality) was set up. Sociologists would question how successful they have been. The impact of the referendum on Brexit has pushed issues about immigration and racism into the news. The coalition government in 2010 set itself targets to reduce immigration by a set amount. Membership of the European Union included free movement of EU citizens to live and work anywhere in the EU. Supporters of this, including many businesses, argued that this helped the UK’s economy and allowed us to fill key jobs in areas like the NHS. The coalition government was pressured to reduce numbers coming to the UK. This has not been easy to achieve and has created unease for ethnic minorities. Evidence of differences in power and life-chances for different ethnic groups The pressure to lower immigration figures by David Cameron and Theresa May’s governments resulted in a ‘hostile environment’policy. The ‘hostile environment’policy resulted in the Home Office pressuring people to prove their right to live in the UK. This has resulted in tragic consequences for members of some ethnic groups including EU citizens and former immigrants. The Windrush scandal showed that immigrants who came to Britain in the 1950s and 60s were asked to produce documentation for employers, hospitals and landlords. Some were wrongly forced to leave the country. Other ethnic groups may worry about the effect on their lives in future. There is a long-standing ethnic pay gap between different groups, according to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2017. A 2018 pay audit in London found pay gaps of up to 37 per cent for some ethnic groups. London fire brigade was the only organisation with a 0 per cent ethnic pay gap. The main cause of the pay gap was the lack of ethnic minorities in higher-paid jobs, possibly due to institutional racism. The media still under- represents or stereotypes ethnic minorities, women and disabled people in the news. Ofcom carried out a 2017 study. The study found that ethnic minorities, disabled people and women were less likely to have jobs in television media and even less likely to have a top job. People from these groups would not feel connected to the media. People from ethnic minority groups still face discrimination by the law. A government report in 2018 found that black, Asian and mixed race people were one and a half more times likely to be arrested than white people and more likely to be victims of crime. The Runnymede Trust argued that discrimination is part of police practice. Spec spotlight 5.3 Equality/inequality in relation to ethnicity 5.4 Factors which may influence access to life-chances and power: prejudice, discrimination, stereotyping, labelling, scapegoating, media representation, moral panics; with specific reference to ethnicity; racism, institutional racism