Over on the BBC website Will Self writes:
Racism is rarely a sole cause of social injustice, but alongside other factors it can limit people’s social mobility, says Will Self…
All too often pundits and policymakers seek a single cause for social stratification when they should accept that in a nation where inequality in real monetary terms is increasing – and has been doing so for quite some time despite the so-called boom years – the reasons for being at the bottom of the heap are manifold.
It’s not a case of class or family or education or money or race, it’s a matter of class, family, education, money and race. The reason, I would hazard, why dual-heritage people self-report as being racially unmixed is that there’s still plenty of racist poison in the body politic.
The racial minorities look to identity politics as a means of self-respect and advancement – which the growing number of dual heritage individuals would seem to vitiate, while plenty of the white majority in this country remain good, old fashioned Alf Garnetts – they’ve just learned to be less blatantly toxic about it.
What’s your view on his diagnosis – has he got it right?
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5 Comments
I’d say there is still a fair degree of racism about, yes. And he’s right about all the factors working together to preserve the establishment (at least I think that’s what he’s saying).
There’s a very useful term “kyriarchy”, which is used to denote the interlocking systems of dominance/privilege which enfold us, and mean that a might be advantaged in some ways (class and gender, for instance), but disadvantaged in others (say, race and disability).
Obviously, people who are disadvantaged in multiple ways are going to generally have it worse than people who are lucky enough to come out on top.
I’ve often argued that people can be too vehement and one dimensional when looking at the causes of or solutions to problems, (and sometimes been rewarded with abuse for my efforts) be it inequality, the environment, the economy….
I agree with WIll. The real barrier to social mobility is money – or lack of it.
The long and short is, as Andrew explains, that “people who are disadvantaged in multiple ways are going to generally have it worse than people who are lucky enough to come out on top”. That’s patently true. What’s less obvious is what Liberal Democrats plan to do to reverse this.
I become quite irritated when so much energy is given over to the (very worthwhile and vital) cause of gender balance while little is done to challenge the root causes of social immobility, including the unfair and crippling factors behind socio-economic inequality.
Andrew, what do you propose the Liberal Democrats do about it? We’re cutting income tax for low earners and improving funding for children from poorer backgrounds with the Pupil Premium. We’re making University more accessible for people from low incomes, and encouraging more apprenticeships.
If there’s something you think we should be doing that isn’t already party policy, why not get your local party to submit a policy motion to Conference on it?