AFST302 Week 7 F24 Lecture Notes PDF

Recap of previous lesson Last week we discussed ‘White Fragility’ We attempted a look at what it is, and why it is so important. Thank you to everyone of you for making that conversation so engaging and intellectually-stimulating....

Recap of previous lesson Last week we discussed ‘White Fragility’ We attempted a look at what it is, and why it is so important. Thank you to everyone of you for making that conversation so engaging and intellectually-stimulating. 1 Lesson Focus This week, our focus is on Globalization, Migration and Anti- Black Racism Our discussions will zoom in on how the prosperity of certain countries is entangled with the genocide of Indigenous Americans and the enslavement of Africans. We would also examine how some of the European imperial projects and relics of colonialism continue to affect the mobility and life experiences of people of African origin. 2  There are a number of scholars who argue that plantation slavery propelled countries such as England, France, the U.S into positions of global economic leadership. The capital earned in the Plantation system was reinvested into technology and various industries to generate more wealth and prosperity 4  The Plantation System which entailed forced migration was at the heart of globalization The Plantation system lasted for about 400 years from the 1500s to the 1800s and its end in the 19th century coincided with the growth of Western Industrialization or what is known as the ‘Industrial revolution’ Western industrialization occurred as the Western Europe and the US colonized the world for political hegemony and to obtain raw materials and create markets to sell their finished goods 5  On the one hand, the U.S model, after plantation slavery, market creation for U.S goods occurred via colonial expansion in Guam, the Philippines, the American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and also by informal domination of countries South of the US border Colonial expansion also entailed migration via the institution of the military. The US also flourished with cheap labour; cheap labour from former slaves, from migrants from Europe and Asia as well as free labour from African-Americans involved in the convict leasing system 6  Immigrants in the US were not viewed equally. Some, like the Irish and Italians suffered discrimination. Others, like the Chinese were forbidden to migrate via the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This was the first significant law restricting immigration into the US. Many Americans on the West Coast attributed declining wages and other economic challenges to Chinese workers 7  Although the Chinese at this time only made up 0.002% of the United States’ population, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act to placate worker demands and to assuage prevalent concern about maintaining White racial purity. In Canada, Chinese men were initially encouraged to come to Canada in the 1880s by contractors who needed cheap labour to help build the transcontinental railroad. Between 1880 and 1884, Satzewich notes that “approximately 15,700 immigrants from China arrived in Canada, mainly in British Columbia to work on railroad construction” (2021:87) 8  These workers were however “soon caught in the crossfire between business-based pro-Chinese immigration sentiments and working-class-based anti-Chinese immigration sentiments” (Satzewich, 2021: 88) The working-class organizations were worried about labour market competition and the “dilution of the white and British character of British Columbia” (Satzewich, 2021: 88). To placate some of the influential anti-Chinese forces, the government introduced “Chinese head tax” 9  According to Satzewich, (2021:88), the first head tax, introduced in 1885 was pegged at $50 per person. In 1900 it was raised to $100 and in 1903, it was raised to $500 per person. By 1923 the government listened to the demands of those who wanted Chinese immigration curbed, and introduced the Chinese Immigration Act which barred Chinese labour migration until after World War II 10  As slavery collapsed, Western Europe expanded its market by colonizing and exploiting people across the globe. Nowhere was this phenomenon more evident than on the African continent where after the Berlin conference of 1884- 1885, England, Belgium, France and Germany, Spain and Italy, partitioned the continent to satisfy their own interests European men and women migrated to the African continent to acquire natural resources like gold, diamond, cocoa, rubber, etc at the expense of African people 11  European colonization also meant controlling bodies. The French , for example believed that they could have these bodies as reservoir of soldiers. Many Africans (some say about 300,000 African colonial soldiers) fought on the side of the French during World War I They fought in a war that they did not start. How did they justify colonizing and exploiting people globally? Scholars argue that this process occurred by continuously misrepresenting and reinventing the identities of colonized people 12  African people were regarded as “savages” and “inferior” people who needed to be rescued from their ”barbarism”. In addition to brutal oppression, their economies were built to satisfy the needs of outsiders. For example, many African colonies had to plant cash crops while food was imported into their countries. 13  By the time former colonized countries became independent, their infrastructures could not accommodate their population’s needs and migration became a viable option that many considered. Imagine that your country is not built for you So where will they migrate? They will migrate to countries that have been represented as ‘modern’, ‘civilized’, ‘advanced’, as ‘industrialized’, to the countries that have historically oppressed them 14  For example, there are about 10 million people in the Dominican Republic, but you have 2 million Dominicans in the U.S. In the American and European imagination, migration was not supposed to occur from the colonies to the land of the colonizers. There is a history of ‘going out there’ and letting them know ‘what time it is’. It was proclaimed in Europe that it was their destiny to save the “inferior races”. 15  So when people from the colonial periphery come in, that’s very unusual. Scholars argue that many people in Europe and North America are not comfortable with non-White immigrants because of colonial stereotypes Just like in the era of the Chinese Exclusion Act in the U.S and the Chinese Immigration Act of Canada, these people are under the illusion that the nation is ‘white and Christian’ and that immigrants destroy the labour market 16  What should we do when faced with anti-immigration sentiments? Remember our commitment in this class to do better Politicians always politicize migration to get votes Also remember that migration provides skilled and unskilled workers (some of whom do the jobs that we love to reject) Migration provides solution to an ageing population Many immigrants, especially those from Africa, hold a Bachelor’s Degree or higher. 17  About 12 million Africans were enslaved and carried across the Atlantic to become slaves One author Suketu Mehta, has asked and answered his own question this way: “Should not 12 million people from Africa be allowed to live in the countries enriched by the toil of their ancestors? Both will be better off: the African still suffering from what slavery has done to his country, and the host country that will again benefit from African labor, but this time without enormous pain and for a fair wage”(2019, Opinion piece in New York Times) 18  Frantz Fanon, an important Black intellectual said something very important in his work titled Black Skin, White Masks: “What matters is not to know the world but to change it.” 19 What has globalization done? “Globalisation has accentuated the unevenness of development between countries and thereby generated significant pressure for the movement of labour across borders. Some of this movement takes the form of the classic “brain-drain” with relatively skilled workers migrating to developed economies. But a significant proportion takes the form of low-skilled or even unskilled workers moving, sometimes illegally, to neighbouring countries with economies growing rapidly and thereby offering higher wages for relatively low skills.” (Excepts from a document prepared by the International Labour Office (ILO) ,International Organization for Migration (IOM) , Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) 2001 titled International Migration, Racism, Discrimination and Xenophobia https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/international_migration_racis m.pdf 20 The Vertical Mosaic: Porter’s Legacy John Porter wrote a seminal book in 1965 entitled The Vertical Mosaic: An Analysis of Social Class and Power in Canada Porter argued that in multicultural societies, there is a relationship between membership in a cultural group and class position, and consequently power Porter found that ethnic groups were unequally represented in the occupational structure He found that immigration and ethnic affiliation are important to class formation in Canada The Vertical Mosaic: Porter’s Legacy, cont’d Four key findings in Porter’s book: 1. The “charter groups” (British and French) had appropriated higher positions of power in the social, economic, and political realms 2. “Less preferred” groups that arrived in Canada later than the charter groups were relegated to an “entrance group” status 3. Ethnic affiliation could result in blocked social mobility 4. The British, as a charter group, were more powerful than the French Evidence for Ethnic Convergence Sociologists have noticed that since the mid 1960s, there has been convergence among Canadian-born members of ethnic groups in relation to socioeconomic status Critiques argue that Porter’s claim might be exaggerated on both mass and elite mobility levels Others point out that Canada is not an ascriptive but an achievement society Occupational Attainment and the Economy The labour market is a mechanism that produces inequalities and reproduces them over long periods of time The primary labour market is made up of jobs that are prestigious, pay high wages, and provide opportunities for advancement The secondary labour market is made up of jobs that do not require high education or skill and offer no job security Occupational Attainment and the Economy, cont’d Large numbers of women, young people, single parents, Indigenous people, recent immigrants, members of ethnic and “visible” groups, and elderly people tend to work in the secondary labour market Despite a decline since the 1960s, ethnic disparities in occupational status have been persistent (“ethnic occupational dissimilarity”) Lautard and Guppy (2007) argue that the ethnic occupational dissimilarity is substantial enough to justify the vertical mosaic image of Canada today Occupational Attainment and the Economy, cont’d Critics argue that ethnicity does not play a significant role in occupational attainment or social mobility Darroch (1979) argued that Porter paid too much attention to the actual order of the ethnic hierarchy in occupational status, and failed to notice the decreasing strength of the association between ethnicity and occupational level over time.  The success of visible minority candidates in the 2019 federal election seems to support those who question the validity of the blocked mobility thesis According to Griffith, 2019 (quoted in Satzewich, 2021: 140): “at least 51 visible minority Members of Parliament were elected in the November 2019 election, and they represented 15.1 per cent of all MPs who were elected. Though visible minorities represent about 22.9 per cent of the population of the country and 17.2 per cent of citizens (i.e., those eligible to vote and stand in elections), this was up from 28 visible minority MPs in the 2011 election, where they represented just 9.1 per cent of elected Members of Parliament” 27 Occupational Attainment and the Economy, cont’d Gender and the capitalist economy The capitalist economy in Canada is gendered; men and women are differentially distributed in the class and occupational structure For example, even though women make up 47.4% of the total labour force in Canada, they occupy proportionately fewer positions higher up the occupational hierarchy, to the point where only 4.9% of CEOs are women Earning Inequalities While some scholars argue that ethnic inequalities exist with respect to earnings, others argue that there has been earning equalization among ethnic groups Earning inequalities are also explained by other factors such as place of birth, place of education, language, class, gender and other labour market variables rather than ethnicity For example, Winn (1988) argues that there has been considerable ethnic mobility in earnings, especially for visible minority and low-status groups The New Colour-Coded Vertical Mosaic? Some argue that the vertical mosaic persists in a racialized form and that Canada is characterized by a colour-coded vertical mosaic (Galabuzi, 2006; Fleras, 2012) Boyd (1992) demonstrated that visible minorities receive lower monetary rewards than their non-visible minority counterparts with similar qualifications Lian and Matthews (1998) agrees that “race” is now a fundamental basis for income equality in Canada They found that while there is a general convergence of earnings among European groups, visible minorities at all educational levels receive lower rewards  The New Colour-Coded Vertical Mosaic?, cont’d In a report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Block, Galabuzi and Tranjan (2019) observed: Racialized men and women earn less than their non-racialized counterparts (see Table 5.1 in next slide ) The differences diminished when generational data are included Convergence in incomes tends to occur in second generation women but not necessarily for men (see Table 5.2) For example, earnings of visible minority women born in Canada tend to outpace those of non-visible minority born in Canada the overall improvement in earnings of visible minority women in relation to white women is the result of their high educational attainment.  Li (2012) found that among Canadian university professors, visible minority men and women earn less than their white counterparts even controlling for other factors. He shows that when variations in earnings due to field of study, immigration status, province of residence, and holding a PhD degree are statistically controlled for, white male professors have the highest earnings. 32 The New Colour-Coded Vertical Mosaic?, cont’d The New Colour-Coded Vertical Mosaic?, cont’d Immigrants and the Vertical Mosaic Earnings in Canada vary by different categories of immigrants: Those admitted under Canadian experience class, on average, earned higher than provincial nominees, who earn more than skilled workers and skilled trained; Caregivers earned the least. When comparing earning differentials among Canadian-born, all immigrants, and recent immigrants, three patterns emerge. As a group: Canadian-born individuals make more than immigrants These differences are greater among those with university education The earnings of recent immigrants are lower than Canadian-born individuals and immigrants who have been in Canada for more than 5 years Immigrants and the Vertical Mosaic, cont’d Immigrants and the Vertical Mosaic, cont’d Immigrants and the Vertical Mosaic, cont’d According to Satzewich (2021), recent studies find that immigrants who come to Canada before their 16th birthday (1.5 generation) tends to do better economically than their Canadian-born counterparts There has been a steady decline in the earnings of recent immigrants in comparison to Canadian-born earners since the 1980s In general, immigrant status has a strong negative impact on earnings Earning differentials suggest that there is a devaluation of immigrant credentials, meaning their education is not recognized A Critical Assessment of Ethnic/“Racial” Inequality Research Concerns about studies of social inequalities based on race and ethnicity include: Claims of overemphasis on ethnic/racial dimensions overlooking the multidimensionality of Canadian society The class dimension of social inequalities (and hierarchies within ethnic groups) is often overlooked There is sometimes a lack of definitional parsimony in the colour-coded mosaic thesis (e.g., definitions of ‘visible minority, ‘whites’, ‘and racialized groups’ can be problematic) The colour-coded mosaic thesis tends to overlook anomalies that undermine its arguments (e.g., southern Europeans) Bringing Class Back In Along with gender, class accounts more for the earnings differentials among and within ethnic and racial groups than any other dimension Many approaches emphasize the “mosaic” dimension of inequality to examine earnings differential among ethnic groups, however, it is also important to consider the “vertical” dimension of examining inequalities both among and within ethnic groups Therefore, within each structural locational basis of inequality (ethnicity, gender, or class), the other two coexist Bringing Class Back In, cont’d According to Wright (1983), there are three main classes in capitalist societies: bourgeoisie, petty bourgeoisie, and proletariat There are three sometimes contradictory class locations between them, which are defined by: Economic ownership of money capital Control of physical means of production Control of the labour power of others Evidence of Ethnic Heterogeneity Public Use Microdata File on Individuals from the 2006 Census reveals: Examining social inequalities from the perspective of class composition, it appears that in the case of the proletariat, there is no clear-cut visible/non-visible ethnic group distinction No single ethnic group is exclusively one class or another, although there are patterns of over and underrepresentation There is considerable class heterogeneity among and within ethnic groups in terms of class composition Earnings Inequalities among and within Ethnic Groups There are considerable differences in the earnings of classes Petty bourgeois and proletarians have mean after-tax incomes below the sample mean in the 2006 census The overall class/gender/nativity income differentials within ethnic/racialized groups are greater than those among them, especially when the highest earning Jewish-origin respondents and lowest earning Indigenous-origin respondents are excluded Summary John Porter’s argument about the vertical mosaic continues to shape understandings of social inequalities in Canada The new colour-coded vertical mosaic argument suggests that racialized minorities are at the bottom of the mosaic, while non- racialized white Canadians are at the top The devaluation of foreign educational credentials helps, in part, to explain immigrants’ comparatively lower earnings The intersectionality of class, race/ethnicity, and gender is important to truly understand social inequalities in Canada