ETHNIC IDENTITIESG671

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

INDIVIDUALLY

Briefly write down what you think the differences are between race, ethnicity and nationality.

Ext: - Give examples for each.

RACE, ETHNICITY & NATIONALITY

Concept Meaning

Race Biological differences, linked to phenotypes (physical characteristics) and genotypes (underlying genetic differences).Race is an increasingly outdated concept.

Ethnicity Groups within society that share things like culture, traditions, language, religion, race, ancestry etc.

Nationality A sense of ‘belonging’ to a particular nation through origin, birth or naturalisation.

Ethnicity(Modood;

2005)

Culture

Descent &Geographical

Origin

Sense of Identity

Language

Clothes, religious values, food,

tradition

ETHNICITY

Modood (2005) Ethnicity involves many factors. These can

be influenced by where a person was born, where they live now and where their ancestors were from.

An ethnic identity means that someone has some kind of cultural attachment to others and often a shared sense of pride.

“In the contemporary UK, ethnicity has become something that everyone has.” (Banton; 2000)

DISCUSS Which ethnic groups are present in the

contemporary UK?

In pairs, select an ethnic identity that is present in the UK and identify some norms and values associated with it, using the following headings: Food, Language, Religion, Tradition, Values

(5 mins – then present)

Keyword: ‘Super-diversity’

RACE & ETHNICITY

Sometimes, racial differences can form part of an individual’s ethnic identity.

For example, Modood (1997) found that African-Caribbeans in the UK were more likely to describe skin-colour as part of their ethnicity than South Asians, who claimed religion was the defining feature of their ethnicity.

However, ethnic differences go deeper than racial factors. For example, Polish and British people are technically part of the same (‘Caucasian’) race, so differences between the two must be cultural, not biological.

ETHNIC MINORITIES & ASSIMILATION

In the contemporary UK, we usually think about ethnicity in relation to ethnic minorities.

Often we think about ethnic minorities in relation to their skin colour, but this ignores the huge variety of White minority-ethnic groups also present in the UK (e.g. Greek Cypriots, Jews, Gypsies, Irish).

Assimilation assumes that ethnic minority groups arriving in the UK will abandon their own culture and adopt that of their ‘immigrant hosts’ – British Culture.

This rarely occurs and it is debated as to whether or not assimilation has any place in a multicultural society.

IN PAIRS

Suggest a minimum of three ways in which the UK could ensure that immigrants are assimilated into British Culture.

Ext: - Is it right that we insist immigrants are assimilated?

INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITY

Take a UK Citizenship Test.

http://www.ukcitizenshiptest.co.uk/

http://www.officiallifeintheuk.co.uk/test/

(You need 75% correct answers to pass the actual test!).

DISCUSS

What is ‘British Culture’?*

*Not just ‘English’ culture, remember!

WHAT IS BRITISH CULTURE?

Fish & Chips St. George Cup of tea Christianity Football The English Language Tennis Haggis The Royal Family

WHAT IS BRITISH CULTURE?

Fish & Chips – (debated; probably Portuguese – though chips themselves either French or Belgian)

St. George - Palestinian Cup of tea - Chinese Christianity - Israeli Football - Chinese The English Language - German Tennis - French Haggis - Scandinavian The Royal Family – German/Greek

INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITY (15 MINS)

You have been hired as a sociologist to write an article for a magazine imagining what society in the contemporary UK would be like without rich ethnic diversity.

Write a short article, as above, considering the following factors: Food, Language, Media, Dress/Style, Religion, Education, Sport…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

RACISM

Discuss:

What is racism?

What different forms can it take?

Have you ever experienced racism?

If so, how did it make you feel?

RACISM

Individuals often make stereotypical and imagined assumptions about other ethnic groups. These reinforce assumptions about their own cultural identities. If a group is powerful, these assumptions might be racist and result in prejudice and discrimination. (Miles; 1989)

RACISM

Different classes express racism in different ways. The upper classes stress their superior breeding, while working-classes practice territorial racism, seeing ethnic minority culture as threatening their communities and jobs. (P. Cohen; 1988)

https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MYHBrJIIFU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXn3fZQEZlQ

RESISTING RACISM

Experiencing Racism can strengthen a person’s sense of ethnic identity:

Young Pakistanis often adopt a strong Islamic identity as a defence against racism and social exclusion. (Jacobson; 1997)

Young African-Caribbeans often adopt identities based on ethnic history and pop culture (e.g. Gangsta rap and hip-hop) to challenge racism and exclusion (Gilroy; 1993)

HYBRID IDENTITIES

Hybridity refers to a “mixing of cultures”. This can blur the differences between ethnic groups.

Young people often experiment with different ‘masks’ and styles, so hybrid identities are rarely fixed. (Back; 1996).

Johal & Bains (1998) found some young people had Dual Identities – e.g. Brasians – different identity with friends, peers, school.

Code Switching – is when people switch between these identities (e.g. Behaving one way with family and another with peers).

GLOBALISATION

Globalisation encourages ethnic hybridity. The expansion of mass media enables people

to consume products from different parts of the world.

Hybrid cultures can be based around any issue…

GLOBALISATION & HYBRIDITY

Music E.g. Brasian Apache Indian; Jay Sean; Asian Dub Foundation

Food E.g. Curry Based on Indian Cuisine; now a ‘national’ UK dish

Clothing E.g. Saris Stocked in high street stores in UK

Leisure E.g. Diwali Celebrated in UK by range of ethnicities.

GLOBALISATION & HYBRIDITY

List a minimum of 10 things that Britain has taken from American culture.

What other ethnic hybrids exist in the contemporary UK? How and where were they formed?

Changes to

Ethnic Identities

Time and Space

Migration

Media

Terrorism

THE CREATION & REINFORCEMENT OF ETHNIC IDENTITIES

1. FAMILY

THE FAMILY

What is the origin of your family name? (Research it if unsure...)

How can a person’s family name inform their ethnic identity?

Socialisationby 1st Gen Asian Parents(Ghuman; 1999)

Children raised to be obedient, loyal and respect elders

Choice of education left to parents

Choice of marriage partner left to parents

Religious training considered vital to reinforce values

Children taught to be bilingual as ‘mother tongue’ considered crucial

FAMILY

Discuss: How does ‘traditional’ British socialisation differ from Ghuman’s observations of traditional Asian socialisation?

Ghuman observed that many of these practices continued for second-generation Asians...

...But not all of them, and increasingly, a generation gap was opening with children caught “between two cultures”.

http://putlocker.is/watch-east-is-east-online-free-putlocker.html

THE FAMILY

Languages spoken at home; food eaten at home; clothes selected for children.

Family Values (For example, Francis & Archer, 2006, showed how British Chinese families valued educational success of children and went to great lengths to help ensure that success).

Structural differences: Different family structures are more or less often found in different ethnic groups.

HOW DOES THE GRAPH SHOW A LINK BETWEEN FAMILY TYPE & ETHNICITY?

2. MASS MEDIAHow are different ethnic minority groups often stereotyped in the media?

MOORE ET AL (2005)

Five Media Stereotypes of Black People1. As Criminals

(e.g. in news stories, the ethnicity of a ‘white’ criminal is not mentioned)

2. As a Threat(“coming over here, taking our jobs...”)

3. As Abnormal(e.g. Strange cultural practices)

4. As Unimportant(e.g. Ignoring issues affecting them)

5. As Dependant(e.g. Images of less developed countries)

MEDIA In less diverse areas, media is often the only

way people have of understanding other ethnic groups.

Being stereotyped, ignored or misrepresented was a norm in British media 1970s-1990s (Jhally; 1992) – although this is changing due to increase in ethnic-minority stars and writers.

MEDIA

The Media is responsible for creating many ethnic hybrids e.g through language.

Media characters such as Ali G, for example, helped create what could almost be considered a new dialect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOZlJiOvXsU

THE CREATION & REINFORCEMENT OF ETHNIC IDENTITIES: MASS MEDIA

In small groups, choose one of the following areas and identify examples of positive representations of different ethnic groups:

TV comedy/soap opera Music Advertising The News Sport

Justify why each is positive.

3. RELIGION

RELIGION

What ethnic group do you think most Christians belong to?

Which religious group(s) do you think are most dominant within Asian ethnic groups?

Which ethnic groups do you think are most likely to have no religion?

RELIGION

Around 95% of Christians are white. Asian groups are most likely to be Muslim,

Hindu or Sikh. Around 75% of Muslims are Asian, as are around 95% of Hindus and 95% of Sikhs.

Just over 90% of people who have ‘no religion’ are white.

Source: Office of National Statistics; 2001

RELIGION

Ethnic minorities in the UK are significantly more likely to be religious than ‘white’ people.

Ethnic/Religious identities overlap e.g. are Muslims an ethnic or religious identity?

Many of the cultural aspects associated with some ethnic groups – e.g. clothing, food, languages, beliefs – come directly from their religion.

SINGLE-FAITH SCHOOLS

These are increasingly common in the UK. It is argued that faith schools are a response

to secularization? Faith schools can strengthen religious

commitment and ethnic identity.

In pairs, list at least five positive and five negative points about the existence of faith schools within the contemporary

UK.

RELIGION

World Events – As a result of globalisation, certain world events can create social divisions between religious/ethnic groups in all societies which can strengthen or weaken ethnic identities.

For example, the September 11th 2001 attacks and the Iraq War are considered to have had a significant effect on religious relations in Western countries and beyond – particularly in attitudes towards young Muslim males.

RELIGION:MUSLIMS IN THE UK

Akhtar (2005)

Muslims have been othered in the West.

Religion offers young Muslims belonging and solidarity.

Religion also provides political mobilisation: Radical groups have turned this to their advantage.

4. EDUCATION

EDUCATION: THE FORMAL CURRICULUM

The subjects you study – and their content – shapes your ethnic identity...

Mason (2005) argues that many schools are ethnocentric. They evaluate other cultures only from the perspective on their own.

Johal & Bains (1998) argue that some [ethnic minority]children wear a metaphorical ‘white mask’ to fit in with the majority culture.

The formal curriculum is generallyculturally biased.

EDUCATION: A MULTICULTURAL RATHER THAN ETHNOCENTRIC CURRICULUM?

Design a multicultural curriculum. For the following subjects, identity types of

activities teachers could use that would be multicultural:

Maths/ScienceEnglishLanguagesHistoryReligious EducationArt/Drama/Music

EDUCATION

Sewell (2000) Offered a curriculum based on an African-

Caribbean perspective, to challenge the dominant one.

However, some argued that the content – with emphasis on slavery, anti-colonial struggle and the Holocaust – reinforced stereotypes and should focus more to highlight positive achievements.

ACTIVITY

Take a 10 minute tour of the college, looking at the ‘achievement’ posters (and other posters/advertisements).

Record how many of the students are white, and how many are non-white (you can sub-divide this as you wish).

Ext:- You could also break this down further by gender!

EDUCATION: THE INFORMAL CURRICULUM

Faith schools (already discussed)

The Informal Curriculum can also influence ethnic identities:

Wright et al (2006) found that young black girls in his study often felt they were treated unfairly in class and translated this as racism.

Sewell (2000) found that young black boys in his study actively resisted racist teaching practices...and this confused the teachers, who didn’t realise these practices were racist!

5. PEER GROUP

PEER GROUP

Ethnic make-up of peer groups can be influenced by schools people attend (e.g. Faith schools)

Cultural comfort zones promote sense of sameness and belonging, but can limit socialisation with other groups.

Multi-ethnic peer groups can strengthen ethnic identities through the realisation of differences within the group.

PEER GROUP

Alexander (1996) studied black British youths and found:

Peer groups crucial in what she terms “the art of being black”.

Males in this study displayed strong cultural attachments to ‘being one of the boys’...

Attended what they called ‘black clubs’, which they differentiated from ‘white clubs’.

PEER GROUP

Sewell (2004) argues that ‘black youth’ identity is the result of three things:

1. Feeling rejected by the dominant culture.

2. Becoming anxious about how their peers perceive them and so constructing a deviant, masculine identity.

3. Influence of popular culture – especially the emphasis on designer labels and available male role models (e.g. Rap stars)

6. WORKPLACE

WORKPLACE

Studies have shown that different ethnicities have different rates of employment, different average pay and more or less difficulty finding and maintaining work.

Heath & Li Cheung (2006) used the concept ‘the ethnic penalty’ to describe the disadvantage experienced by some ethnic minorities in the workplace.

Discuss: What factors do you think contribute to the ‘ethnic penalty’?Do you think it still exists today?

WORKPLACE

Family connections and expectations can also affect the type of work some ethnic groups are more likely to do.

Song (2003) showed that a large proportion of Chinese people living in the UK are employed in the food and catering sector.

Over a third of doctors working in the NHS are described as Asian.

http://viooz.co/movies/6894-east-is-east-1999.html

ACTIVITY

Create a poster demonstrating how any one agent of socialisation creates and reinforces ethnic identities.

Use your notes, research and your own ideas and images.

Present to the class.

WRITTEN TASK

Outline and explain two ways in which an individual may express their ethnic

identity [16]