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Minority Report: Race and Class in Post-Brexit Britain Runnymede Perspectives Minority Report Race and Class in post-Brexit Britain Edited by Omar Khan and Faiza Shaheen Runnymede: Intelligence Disclaimer This publication is part of the Runnymede Perspectives for a Multi-ethnic Britain series, the aim of which is to foment free and exploratory thinking on race, ethnicity and equality. The facts presented and views expressed in this publication are, however, those Runnymede is the UK’s of the individual authors and not necessariliy those of the leading independent thinktank Runnymede Trust. on race equality and race relations. Through high- Acknowledgements quality research and thought Most of the contributions in this volume were first presented at a conference on race and class at the London School leadership, we: of Economics. We thank the Department of Sociology for supporting the event and Runnymede’s work. • Identify barriers to race equality and good race relations; • Provide evidence to support action for social change; • Influence policy at all ISBN: 978-1-909546-17-2 levels. Published by Runnymede in March 2017, this document is copyright © Runnymede 2017. Some rights reserved. Open access. Some rights reserved. The Runnymede Trust wants to encourage the circulation of its work as widely as possible while retaining the copyright. The trust has an open access policy which enables anyone to access its content online without charge. Anyone can download, save, perform or distribute this work in any format, including translation, without written permission. This is subject to the terms of the Creative Commons Licence Deed: Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales. Its main conditions are: • You are free to copy, distribute, display and perform the work; • You must give the original author credit; • You may not use this work for commercial purposes; • You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. You are welcome to ask Runnymede for permission to use this work for purposes other than those covered by the licence. Runnymede is grateful to Creative Commons for its work and its approach to copyright. For more information please go to www.creativecommons.org Runnymede St Clement’s Building, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE T 020 7377 9222 E [email protected] www.runnymedetrust.org CONTENTS Foreword 3 Introduction: Analysing and Responding to Racial and Class Inequalities 4 Omar Khan and Faiza Shaheen 1. Persisting Disadvantages: Barriers to Ethnic Social Mobility in the UK 7 Yaojun Li 2. Class, Ethnicity and Social Mobility 11 Lucinda Platt 3. Some Thoughts on the Theory, History and Politics of Race 14 and Class, or Why Class Analysis Must Take Race Seriously Satnam Virdee 4. The Role of Cultural Capital for Understanding Race, 17 Ethnicity and Class Mike Savage 5. The Mysterious Intersections of Race and Class 19 Gargi Bhattacharyya 6. How Not to Think about Class 22 Faiza Shaheen and Ellie Mae O’Hagan 7. Race and Class: From Analysis to What Next 24 Omar Khan Biographical Notes on Contributors 28 Race and Class in post-Brexit Britain 3 Foreword In the aftermath of the 2016 referendum on leaving or living within the European Union, debates on race and class have descended from inadequate to toxic. In response, Runnymede and CLASS are co-publishing this volume to kickstart a conversation that can lead us to a more informed policy position on race and class in Britain. The inadequacies of the current debate are multiple, and from the causes to the economic, social and political consequences we find ourselves with more questions than answers. To start with, we must better analyse and understand how race and class interact – notably by interrogating the persistence and extent of intergenerational inequalities on the grounds of race and class, and examining how those inequalities are then unjustly supported by racist and classist attitudes and behaviours. The contributors to this volume also suggest how a more informed analysis can lead to the building of shared interests among the multi-racial working class, who are too often divided by race and pitted against each other. Arguments raised in the various chapters sketch out how policymakers might respond to class-based and race-based inequalities, while including the voices of the Black and minority ethnic working class. Over the next year Runnymede and CLASS will seek to work with others on improving the public debate and policy analysis around race and class in Britain. We will not shy away from calling out racism, but nor will we accept that racist attitudes among the white working class are the key cause of racial inequalities in Britain today. We will also want to work with those seeking to reduce the inequalities of opportunity, status and outcome among all working-class people in Britain in 2017. This volume is only the first step in what will be a challenging but fruitful programme of activities. We are, as are our contributors, under no illusions about the scale of the challenge. But we look forward to working with others similarly committed to clearer analysis of, and better policy responses to, racial and class inequalities. While this conversation may not be easy, it is necessary for achieving a better Britain. Runnymede and CLASS 4 Runnymede Perspectives Introduction: Analysing and Responding to Racial and Class Inequalities Omar Khan and Faiza Shaheen After years when class was ignored, Brexit in the It’s hard to square this assessment with the reality. UK and Donald Trump’s election in the US have Racial inequalities persist in almost every arena of placed it firmly back on the agenda. Notably, the re- British society, from birth to death. Discrimination is emergence of class analysis has taken a distinctive persistent in the labour market and ethnic minorities form, namely by focusing principally on the white lack equal political participation whatever their working class, and more on their cultural or social perceived advantages. The renewed discussion on exclusion than on how structural inequalities deny class isn’t unique in ignoring (or being ignorant of) the working class (white or otherwise) access these facts, but how might we instead analyse race to opportunities, resources and power (see also and class? Runnymede’s 2009 volume Who Cares About the White Working Class?). Various contributors to this volume tackle this question, and two obvious starting points stand out. The very broad headline argument of this report is First is that we need to begin with an understanding that race must be better understood and addressed of the basic data on class and race, and in particular in the context of class. More specifically, it proposes Black and minority ethnic people’s experience of three ways of sharpening our discussion of both race education, the labour market and social mobility in and class. First is analysis: how we understand and Britain today. The first two chapters, by Yaojun Li and frame these issues, from employment or education Lucinda Platt respectively, outline this evidence. data to voting behaviour. Second is mobilization: how we understand existing interests and ideas on race Second, the ‘white working class’ analysis tends to and class, and how shared interests and attitudes sidestep or even erase the existence of the ‘black could be further developed. Third and last is policy: working class’. Satnam Virdee outlines and seeks how should government and others respond to to correct the historic erasure of the black working inequalities based on class and race. class in England, and also notes the continued consequences of that historic amnesia. Various Many of the chapters in this volume were first chapters highlight the ongoing exclusion of the black produced as presentations for a conference on working class; they also consider how we might Race and Class held on 26 May 2015 at the LSE. instead analyse race and class. All of these pieces have been amended for inclusion in this report, with the addition of the last chapter It’s somewhat easier to criticize the current framing from Omar Khan. A podcast of the evening’s of race and class than to provide a snappy or public discussion is also available. Runnymede and easy alternative way of analysing them. The term CLASS have jointly decided to publish this report ‘intersectionality’ has been adopted in academic to improve thinking and action on race and class in and some journalistic discussions of race, class and Britain following the referendum decision to leave the other inequalities, but not only is the term somewhat European Union. confusing, it doesn’t necessarily specify clearly enough how race and class interact. Analysing race and class The pieces in this volume show why so much of the As Gargi Bhattacharyya’s wide-ranging and insightful current analysis on race and class is both confused chapter indicates, the current discussion on race and wrong. The focus on (and only on) the white and class may be simplistic, but social scientists working class obviously relegates race as a category as well as activists also struggle with a range of of analysis. Or, worse, race is invoked only as a questions and appropriate responses. For example, category in opposition to class – that racism is over, how does race impact the experiences of different that ethnic minorities are part of a ‘cosmopolitan members of the working class? What is the role of elite’, that policymakers and political parties respond immigration (and of foreign qualifications) on the or pander to ethnic minorities – sometimes, it’s construction of class positions and identities, and of claimed, at the expense of the white working class. their transmission across generations? How does Race and Class in post-Brexit Britain 5 immigration both define the composition of the working-class or wider or narrower ‘left-behind’ working class and operate as a potential dividing line voters, they instead focus on cultural change.
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