Bagley, C.; Abubaker, M. Muslim Woman Seeking Work: An English Case Study with a Dutch Comparison, of Discrimination and Achievement. Soc. Sci.2017, 6, 17.
Bagley, C.; Abubaker, M. Muslim Woman Seeking Work: An English Case Study with a Dutch Comparison, of Discrimination and Achievement. Soc. Sci. 2017, 6, 17.
Bagley, C.; Abubaker, M. Muslim Woman Seeking Work: An English Case Study with a Dutch Comparison, of Discrimination and Achievement. Soc. Sci.2017, 6, 17.
Bagley, C.; Abubaker, M. Muslim Woman Seeking Work: An English Case Study with a Dutch Comparison, of Discrimination and Achievement. Soc. Sci. 2017, 6, 17.
Abstract
The measurement of discrimination in employment is a key variable in understanding dynamics in the nature of and change in ‘race relations’. Measuring such discrimination using ‘situation’ and ‘correspondence’ tests was influenced by John Rex’s sociological analyses, begun in in England in the 1960s, and replicated in Europe and America in later decades. This literature is reviewed, and the methodologies of testing for employment discrimination are discussed. Recent work in Britain and The Netherlands is considered in detail in the light of changing social structures, and the rise of Islamophobia. Manchester, apparently the city manifesting the most discrimination in Britain, is considered for a special case study, with a focus on one individual, a Muslim woman seeking intermediate level accountancy employment. Her vita was matched with that of a manifestly indigenous, white Briton. Submitted vitas (to 1,043 potential employers) indicated significant discrimination against the Muslim woman candidate. Results are discussed within the context of Manchester’s micro-sociology, and Muslim women’s employment progress in broader contexts, drawing on our work in Jordan and Palestine. We conclude with the critical realist comment that the “hidden racism” of employment discrimination shows that capitalist societies continue to be institutionally racist, and the failure to reward legitimate aspirations of minorities pushes ethnic minorities into a permanent precariat, with implications for social justice and social control, which denies minority efforts to “integrate” in society’s employment systems.
Keywords
racial discrimination; employment; United Kingdom; The Netherlands; black and ethnic minorities; women; Islam; alienation
Subject
Social Sciences, Political Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
