Arbeitspapier

Do Oppositional Identities Reduce Employment for Ethnic Minorities?

We develop a model in which non-white individuals are defined with respect to their social environment (family, friends, neighbors) and their attachments to their culture of origin (religion, language), and in which jobs are mainly found through social networks. We found that, depending on how strong they are linked to their culture of origin, non-whites choose to adopt ?oppositional? identities since some individuals may identify with the dominant culture (status seekers) and others may reject that culture (conformists), even if it implies adverse labor market outcomes. We then test this model using a unique data set that contains extensive information on various issues surrounding ethnic identity and preferences in Britain. We find considerable heterogeneity in the ethnic population of Britain in terms of ethnic preferences. One group, namely the African-Asians, stand out in having preferences that accord with the notion of them being status seekers. Such preferences are closely tied to a range of assimilation variables and those non-whites who have preferences that accord with being a conformist do experience an employment penalty.

Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 721

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
Thema
social networks
white?s norm
ethnic minorities
Ethnische Gruppe
Arbeitsuche
Arbeitsnachfrage
Soziales Netzwerk
Kulturpsychologie
Soziale Norm
Theorie
Großbritannien

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Battu, Harminder
Mwale, McDonald
Zenou, Yves
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
(wo)
Bonn
(wann)
2003

Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
20.09.2024, 08:21 MESZ

Datenpartner

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Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Battu, Harminder
  • Mwale, McDonald
  • Zenou, Yves
  • Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Entstanden

  • 2003

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