Oppositional Identities and the Labor Market

Harminder Battu, McDonald Mwale and Yves Zenou
Additional contact information
Harminder Battu: Department o Economics, Postal: University of Aberdeen, Edward Wright Building, Dunbar Street, Old Aberdeen AB24 3QY, UK
McDonald Mwale: Health Economics Research Unit (HERU), Postal: University of Aberdeen, Medical School, Polwarth Building, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, UK

No 649, Working Paper Series from Research Institute of Industrial Economics

Abstract: We develop a model in which non-white individuals are defined with respect to their social environment (family, friends, neighbors) and their attachments to their culture of origin (religion, language), and in which jobs are mainly found through social networks. We find that, depending on how strong peer pressures are, non-whites choose to adopt "oppositional" identities since some individuals may identify with the dominant culture and others may reject that culture, even if it implies adverse labor market outcomes.

Keywords: Ethnic Minorities; Identity; Social Networks; White's Norm; Multiple Equilibria (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A14 J15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2005-10-19
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Oppositional identities and the labor market (2007)
Working Paper: Oppositional Identities and the Labour Market (2005)
Working Paper: Oppositional Identities and the Labor Market (2005)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0649

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