A distinct ethnic agenda?
The key questions
•Are there any special political concerns sharedby minorities and differing from those of theWhite British majority?
•Are these ethnic political concerns integratedinto or excluded from the mainstream politicalagenda?
Performance and position issues
Political scientists often make a distinction between‘performance’ issues and ‘position’ issues
•Performance issues are ones where there isagreement on the goals, eg recovering from therecession, but disagreement about how to/who isbest to achieve it
•Position issues are ones where there isdisagreement about what the goals should be, egprivatization vs nationalization
Agreement on performance issues
•Generally agreed that minorities attach similarpriorities to performance issues as do the majority, egconcerns about dealing with the financial situation
•But controversy whether minorities have distinct‘ethnic’ concerns in addition
•And controversy whether minorities actually agree on‘ethnic’ concerns
•If there are distinct ethnic concerns, and if these areNOT reflected in the mainstream political agenda, thenimportant issue of political exclusion arises
The mainstream agenda
As far as you’re concerned, what is the single mostimportant issue facing the country ?
White BritishEthnic minorities
•State of economy3931
•Financial crisis2317
•Immigration115
•Unemployment620
•War in Afghanistan41
•Law and order24
Diversity between minorities
Support asylumOppose Afghan war
Indian3446
White British3964
Pakistani4168
Bangladeshi4359
Black Caribbean5956
Black African7451
Two sorts of ethnic claims
•Claims for equal opportunities (redress ofdiscrimination and exclusion) – potentiallyunite all minorities
•Claims for protection of cultural practices –potentially different claims by differentminorities
Government should make every effort to improve opportunities for BMEs vsNo need for government to take action to improve opportunities for BMEs
% wanting improved opportunities
White British19
Indian65
Pakistani71
Bangladeshi70
Black Caribbean74
Black African75
A shared minority concern. Pattern replicated with otherquestions on possible policies, eg affirmative action
Should schools allow those for whom it is important towear traditional dress at school?
% agreeing
Indian40
Pakistani73
Bangladeshi68
Black Caribbean39
Black African38
Even Sikhs were not especially supportive of this proposition,possibly because they have already won this battle
Are these issues addressed by themainstream parties?
“By promoting equality and tacklingdiscrimination, our policies, like recognising civilpartnerships as well as marriage in the tax systemand helping disabled people live independently,will give everybody the chance to play their part.This way, we can make Britain fairer and safer; acountry where opportunity is more equal” (p 35).
But no explicit mention of race or ethnicity, or any specificproposals, anywhere in this manifesto.
Well at least this one did mention race
“New legislation and the Equality and Human RightsCommission will ensure that people are not heldback at work because of their gender, age, disability,race and religious or sexual orientation. The newEquality Act will be enforced, promoting fairnessacross our society. The public duty to promoteequality of opportunity is being extended. We willencourage employers to make greater use of payreviews and equality checks to eliminate unfair paygaps, including inequalities in pay between men andwomen” (2:4).
But no new proposals
And this one had a clear new policy
[We] want to build a society where everyone has the opportunity toget on in life. Most businesses do a great job of supporting theiremployees, but there is more to do to tackle discrimination on thegrounds of gender, sexuality, age, race, religion or disability. Wewant to give employees fair opportunities to make the best use oftheir talents, and greater control over their working lives andconditions. Women are still paid less than men. It can be hard tojuggle work and family life. People from Black, Asian and MinorityEthnic communities are still more likely to suffer discrimination.And there are far too many barriers to work for people withdisabilities.
•We will change this by:
Requiring name-blind job application forms to reduce sex and racediscrimination in employment, initially for every company with over100 employees (p 30)
And where would you place the Conservative/Labour/LiberalDemocrat parties on this scale [on improving opportunities forBlack people and Asians]
% placing the party ‘left’ of centre on equal opportunities for BMEs
Labour LDsConservatives
Ethnic minorities604035
White British463219
Both the majority and the minorities see Labour as much more inclined toimprove minority opportunities than either of the other parties.
But white British are more sceptical about all three parties’ intentions.
Conclusion
There is a shared ethnic minority concern with securing equalopportunities and overcoming prejudice and discrimination
But there is great diversity on other issues such as the war inAfghanistan, asylum seekers, and cultural concerns
All the parties’ manifestos promised to reduce discrimination,but only the LDs mentioned any specific new proposals
But minorities themselves did not see the LDs as particularlysupportive and gave much more credence to Labour (probablyreflecting Labour’s record rather than its current promises)