So reports The Guardian:
Racism is still stopping Britain’s ethnic minorities from entering the best-paid professions despite them having a stronger work ethic and greater drive than white Britons, a report released tomorrow claims.
The report, funded by the government and compiled by charity Business in the Community, whose president is Prince Charles, says too many ethnic minority Britons feel prestige jobs in the law, banking, media and politics are closed to them.
It finds “blatant racism”, including taunts about being terrorists, is still closing doors and warns that the government and business must take tougher action.
For the study, 1,500 people from all ethnic backgrounds were interviewed. Asked which professions were seen as racist, nearly half of all respondents saw the police as prejudiced, rising to 72% for Afro-Caribbeans. The armed forces were seen as prejudiced by 36%, politics by 30%, and law by 16%.
You can read the full report here.
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6 Comments
Based on the news report, this study does not appear to demonstrate that racism is stopping ethnic minorities from entering certain professions. What it does demonstrate very clearly is that ethnic minorities believe racism is stopping them, but it does not appear to evaluate whether they are correct in this belief.
(It is invariably the case with these things that some of them are correct and some of them are not; you haven’t really learned anything until you know how many)
This sort of “research” annoys me. It has taken a complex question and rather than expend the time and money required to get a strong, informative result, they have simply conducted an opinion poll. This opinion poll is then reported as if it was significant research. Worst of all, it will now be harder to get a better research study into the question funded, since people will point to this study as a reason why it isn’t needed.
This question is important and I want real research done on it, not cobwebs and spin.
I largely agree with Andrew Suffield, except to point out that if the expectation of racism deters qualified people from applying then it does reduce recruitment of people who feel they would be the targets of racism. But he’s right that proper research is needed: if there is racism in the professions then the policy reaction should obviously be different from if there is in fact little or no racism; in the latter case the challenge is dealing with misconceptions. But without proper research we don’t know which is the real situation.
I never saw any racism in my time as a corporate lawyer. However, since many law firms recruit from ‘elite’ universities, their intake usually reflects the background of students at those universities. Effective outreach programmes help to overcome this and provide a wider talent pool for top law firms to recruit from.
Class prejudice is also a huge barrier, yet we don’t get that mentioned nearly so often. How many of these “prestigious jobs” are filled by people with working class accents? I’d say an accent which says “council estate” is a bigger barrier than a brown skin.
Racism is still stopping Britain’s ethnic minorities from entering the best-paid professions despite them having a stronger work ethic and greater drive than white Britons
You’ve just implied that white Britons don’t have a strong work ethic or much drive.
RACIST!
Jez, I think the point you’re making is serious and relates to mine. If you are constantly out down and treated as no good because of your accent or mannerisms, it will damage your work ethic and sense of drive. I would say that what is observed here about “white Britons” is due to the class issue.