Shaping ethnic inequalities : the production and reproduction of social and spatial inequalities among ethnic minorities in England and Wales

Abstract

This thesis is about the production and reproduction of social and spatial inequalities among ethnic minorities in England and Wales. More specifically, I study how the interaction of different forms of inequality shapes the opportunities of individuals in a series of outcomes. The main source of inequality explored here is that which derives from ethnicity and migration status. Alongside this, two dimensions of inequality are also explored: social origins and the characteristics of the neighbourhood of residence. The analysis, carried out for second generation ethnic minorities (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Caribbean and African) and the white British, is based on rich individual, household and neighbourhood-level data: the ONS Longitudinal Study, a dataset that links census information for a 1% sample of the population of England and Wales and to which it is possible to attach household and neighbourhood information, and aggregated census data (1971-2011). I show that ethnic penalties in the labour market are, partly or totally, penalties related to the socio-economic origins of ethnic minorities, usually less advantaged as compared to that of the white British. This suggests that scholars in migration might overestimate the ethnic gap if social origins are not considered. A second crucial finding is that the geographical space is a source of production and reproduction of ethnic inequalities. Three outcomes support this. First, I found evidence of ethnic enclave and place stratification spatial models: most ethnic minorities, but particularly individuals with lower educational and occupational attainments and Pakistani and Bangladeshi populations, are less likely than the white British to improve the neighbourhood in which they were raised, both in terms of deprivation levels and in terms of the share of non-whites. Second, I found evidence of neighbourhood effects: having been raised in areas with a high share of co-ethnics has a negative effect on the labour market outcomes of some groups, mainly Pakistani and Bangladeshi. Third, I found evidence of increasing spatial segregation: between 2001 and 2011, non-whites, and in particular Pakistani populations, increased their spatial clustering and their likelihood of sharing the space with other co-ethnics.