Dubious types and boundary disputes : contested understandings of concepts of discrimination

Abstract

A prevailing notion of racial/ethnic discrimination is that it is rooted in racism and ethnic prejudice. In fact there are many 'types' of racial/ethnic discrimination, and direct racist discrimination is only one of them. However, whilst direct racist discrimination is perhaps the easiest type to understand, some of the other types are contested in their meaning and used inconsistently in the academic literature. The paper begins by listing the types of discrimination related to the area of employment that are most commonly found in the literature, and attempts a clarification of the conceptual content and boundaries of each type. The paper highlights areas where discrimination concepts have been used inconsistently, and where the same concept has been taken by different authors to mean widely different things. To assist in this exercise the paper draws on examples and cases of employment discrimination which have come to light in recent years, whether by research, by NGO activity or in legal cases. Finally, through the use of a typology and a process of cross-classification, the paper suggests ways of reducing the ambiguities surrounding the understanding and use of concepts relating to racial/ethnic discrimination.