Oppositional Identities and the Labour Market

Yves Zenou, Harminder Battu and MacDonald Mwale

No 5351, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: We develop a model in which non-white individuals are defined with respect to their social environment (family, friends, neighbours) 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, nonwhites 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 labour 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)
Date: 2005-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Oppositional identities and the labor market (2007)
Working Paper: Oppositional Identities and the Labor Market (2005)
Working Paper: Oppositional Identities and the Labor Market (2005)
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