Do Oppositional Identities Reduce Employment for Ethnic Minorities?

Harminder Battu (), McDonald Mwale () and Yves Zenou
Additional contact information
Harminder Battu: University of Aberdeen
McDonald Mwale: University of Aberdeen

No 721, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

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 found that, depending on how strong they are linked to their culture of origin, non-whites choose to adopt “oppositional” identities since some individuals may identify with the dominant culture (status seekers) and others may reject that culture (conformists), even if it implies adverse labor market outcomes. We then test this model using a unique data set that contains extensive information on various issues surrounding ethnic identity and preferences in Britain. We find considerable heterogeneity in the ethnic population of Britain in terms of ethnic preferences. One group, namely the African-Asians, stand out in having preferences that accord with the notion of them being status seekers. Such preferences are closely tied to a range of assimilation variables and those non-whites who have preferences that accord with being a conformist do experience an employment penalty.

Keywords: ethnic minorities; white’s norm; social networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2003-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

Published - published as 'Oppositional identities and the labor market' in: Journal of Population Economics, 2007, 20 (3), 643-667

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Related works:
Working Paper: Do Oppositional Identities Reduce Employment for Ethnic Minorities? (2003)
Working Paper: Do Oppositional Identities Reduce Employment for Ethnic Minorities? (2003)
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