Class relations and racism in Britain in the 1980's - article ; n°1 ; vol.3, pg 223-238

Robert Miles

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Revue européenne de migrations internationales - Année 1987 - Volume 3 - Numéro 1 - Pages 223-238
Relations entre les classes et racisme en Grande-Bretagne dans les années 1980.
Robert MILES
Il est courant de suggérer que les personnes d'origine antillaise ou asiatique en Grande-Bretagne se situent dans une seule et même position dans la structure de classe britannique. On postule, ou bien que tous occupent une situation subordonnée à l'intérieur de la classe ouvrière britannique, ou bien qu'ils constituent une sous-classe, à l'extérieur et « en dessous » de la classe ouvrière. Cet article conteste ces deux points de vue. Il démontre d'une part que les Asiatiques et les Antillais sont représentés, bien que très inégalement, dans toutes les classes sociales et d'autre part qu'il existe des variations importantes selon leur origine nationale et leur sexe. L'auteur démontre également que le racisme est un déterminant important de cette répartition différenciée, et de la position des Antillais et des Asiatiques dans les systèmes de relations politiques et idéologiques.
En conclusion, l'auteur propose une conception de la situation de classe qui reconnaît cette complexité.
Class relations and racism in Britain in the 1980s.
Robert MILES
It is commonly suggested that people of Caribbean and Asian origin in Britain occupy a single position in the British class structure. Either it is argued that they all occupy a subordinate position within the British working class or that they all constitute an underclass, outside and underneath the working class. This paper challenges both conceptions. It shows that, within economic relations, Asian and Caribbean people are distributed, although very unevenly, across the main classes and that there are significant variations according to national origin and sex. However, it also argues that racism is an important determinant of this differential distribution and that racism is a central factor in the position of Asian and Caribbean people in political and ideological relations. It concludes with a conception of class location which acknowledges these complexities.
Rassismus und Beziehungen zwischen soziale Klassen in Gross-Britannien seit 1980.
Robert MILES
Viele meinen dass in Grossbritannien die aus der Karibik und Asien stammende Bevölkerung besetzen eine einzige Stelle innerhalb des britischen Klassenstrukturs. Es ist behauptet entweder dass sie alle eine untergeordnete Stelle innerhalb der britische Arbeiterklasse besetzen oder dass sie eine Unterklasse ausserhalb und unterhalb der Arbeiterklasse bilden. Dieser Aufsatz stellt beide Behauptungen in frage. Er versucht zu zeigen dass, von ihre wirtschaftliche Lage her gesehen, solche Leute aus der Karibik und aus Asien innerhalb die ganze Klassenstruktur — wenn wohl sehr ungleichmässig — verteilt sind und, weiter, dass wichtige Unterschiede im Bezug auf nationale Herkunft und Geschlecht stattfinden. Anderseits wird es argumentiert dass die Rassenpolitik eine wichtige Ursache dieser differenzierten Verteilung ist, und auch für die Stelle solche Leute innerhalb politische und ideologische Beziehungen.
16 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

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• Publié par: REVUE_EUROPEENNE_DE_MIGRATIONS_INTERNATIONALES
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1987
• Nombre de lectures: 6
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Robert Miles
Class relations and racism in Britain in the 1980's
In: Revue européenne de migrations internationales. Vol. 3 N°1-2. 1er-3e trimestre. pp. 223-238.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Miles Robert. Class relations and racism in Britain in the 1980's. In: Revue européenne de migrations internationales. Vol. 3
N°1-2. 1er-3e trimestre. pp. 223-238.
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/remi_0765-0752_1987_num_3_1_1135Résumé
Relations entre les classes et racisme en Grande-Bretagne dans les années 1980.
Robert MILES
Il est courant de suggérer que les personnes d'origine antillaise ou asiatique en Grande-Bretagne se
situent dans une seule et même position dans la structure de classe britannique. On postule, ou bien
que tous occupent une situation subordonnée à l'intérieur de la classe ouvrière britannique, ou bien
qu'ils constituent une sous-classe, à l'extérieur et « en dessous » de la classe ouvrière. Cet article
conteste ces deux points de vue. Il démontre d'une part que les Asiatiques et les Antillais sont
représentés, bien que très inégalement, dans toutes les classes sociales et d'autre part qu'il existe des
variations importantes selon leur origine nationale et leur sexe. L'auteur démontre également que le
racisme est un déterminant important de cette répartition différenciée, et de la position des Antillais et
des Asiatiques dans les systèmes de relations politiques et idéologiques.
En conclusion, l'auteur propose une conception de la situation de classe qui reconnaît cette complexité.
Abstract
Class relations and racism in Britain in the 1980s.
Robert MILES
It is commonly suggested that people of Caribbean and Asian origin in Britain occupy a single position
in the British class structure. Either it is argued that they all occupy a subordinate position within the
British working class or that they all constitute an underclass, outside and "underneath" the working
class. This paper challenges both conceptions. It shows that, within economic relations, Asian and
Caribbean people are distributed, although very unevenly, across the main classes and that there are
significant variations according to national origin and sex. However, it also argues that racism is an
important determinant of this differential distribution and that racism is a central factor in the position of
Asian and Caribbean people in political and ideological relations. It concludes with a conception of class
location which acknowledges these complexities.
Zusammenfassung
Rassismus und Beziehungen zwischen soziale Klassen in Gross-Britannien seit 1980.
Robert MILES
Viele meinen dass in Grossbritannien die aus der Karibik und Asien stammende Bevölkerung besetzen
eine einzige Stelle innerhalb des britischen Klassenstrukturs. Es ist behauptet entweder dass sie alle
eine untergeordnete Stelle innerhalb der britische Arbeiterklasse besetzen oder dass sie eine
Unterklasse ausserhalb und "unterhalb "der bilden. Dieser Aufsatz stellt beide
Behauptungen in frage. Er versucht zu zeigen dass, von ihre wirtschaftliche Lage her gesehen, solche
Leute aus der Karibik und aus Asien innerhalb die ganze Klassenstruktur — wenn wohl sehr
ungleichmässig — verteilt sind und, weiter, dass wichtige Unterschiede im Bezug auf nationale Herkunft
und Geschlecht stattfinden. Anderseits wird es argumentiert dass die Rassenpolitik eine wichtige
Ursache dieser differenzierten Verteilung ist, und auch für die Stelle solche Leute innerhalb politische
und ideologische Beziehungen.223
Revue Européenne
des Migrations Internationales
Volume 3 - nos 1 et 2
ler-3e trimestre 1987
Class relations and racism
in Britain in the 1980's
Robert MILES
My objective in this paper is to analyse the position of
Asian and Caribbean people in class relations in the British social formation in the
1980s. This Asian and Caribbean presence is the result largely of a post- 1945
migration to Britain which added substantially to longer established, small Asian
and Caribbean communities (Fryer, 1984 ; Visram, 1986).
Migration is integral to the development of the capitalist mode of production
(Miles and Phizacklea, 1984 : 142-53 ; also Miles, 1986, 1987a), dependent as it is
upon the development of a complex division of labour and the concentration of
labour power in particular spatial locations. But although labour demand is a
central determinant of migration, the latter may also be stimulated by political
factors, as in the example of refugee migrations. I use the concept of migration to
refer to the spatial mobility of people within or across national boundaries, as a
result of which they are relocated in the national or international matrix of econom
ic, political and ideological relations.
Asian and Caribbean migration to Britain since 1945 has consisted of four
main movements. First, there has been a migration of men and women from the
Caribbean and the Indian sub-continent determined by a demand for semi- and
unskilled manual labour in Britain and by various forms of material deprivation in
their country of origin (e.g. Peach, 1968 ; Robinson, 1980). This migration began
in the early 1950s and was largely terminated by legislation in 1962 and 1965.
Second, there has been a related migration of dependants of the first category, a
migration which began in the 1950s and continues on a very reduced scale to the
present day. Third, there has been a very small migration of people (mainly men)
from the Indian sub-continent who intended to establish themselves in petit-bour
geois or bourgeois class positions (Nowikowski, 1984). Fourth, there has been a
migration from East Africa of men and women who were, in effect, political Robert MILES
refugees (e.g. Bachu, 1985) and who believed that they were British subjects
because they held, or were entitled to hold, British passports. A significant propor
tion of these migrants occupied petit-bourgeois or bourgeois economic positions
before their enforced migration. The bulk of this migration occurred in the late
1960s and early 1970s.
The majority of these migrants arrived in Britain with the legal status of
British Commonwealth subjects or the dependants of British Commonwealth sub
jects, and therefore with rights of settlement and to work, and of full political
participation. Children born to these migrants in Britain are, with certain except
ions, British citizens by birth. Therefore, what is referred to below as the Asian
and Caribbean population is composed of migrants (who have effectively become
permanent settlers) and their British-born children, the latter constituting some
35 % of the population (Runnymede Trust/ Radical Statistics Race Group, 1980 :
4 ; Saggar, 1985 : 423-5).
POSITION IN ECONOMIC RELATIONS
I begin by considering the position of Asian and Caribbean people in econo
mic relations, drawing upon studies reporting data for the early 1980s (Field et, al.,
1981 ; Anon, 1983 ; Brown, 1984a, 1984b ; Barber, 1985 ; Newham, 1986), from
which I draw the following conclusions. First, the majority of Asian and Carib
bean men and women (with certain exceptions which will be noted) are engaged in
some form of paid (i. e. wage) employment, predominantly in paid manual
employment. Therefore, they occupy a proletarian economic position.
The 1984 Labour Force Survey (Barber, 1985 : 469-70) shows that, overall,
more than 65 % of Asian and Caribbean people of working age are economically
active and in paid employment, although there are significant variations corre
sponding to sex and national origin. For example, a lower proportion of women are
economically active compared with men (49 % compared with 83 %), a difference
which is largely the result of a very low economic activity rate amongst women
who originate from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Of those who are economically
active, the majority are engaged in paid employment, although again there are
important variations. Pakistani and Bangladeshi men and women show the lowest
proportion in paid employment (66 % and 60,4 % respectively) while East African
women have the highest proportion (91,2 %), Caribbean women are more likely to
be in paid employment than Caribbean men (83,2 % and 69 % respectively).
Concerning the job levels of those who are economically active, the Policy Studies
Institute (PSI) study showed that 83 % of Caribbean men and 73 % of Asian men
are in manual jobs. For Caribbean and Asian women, the comparative propor
tions are 47 % and 52 % (Brown, 1984a : 305).
Second, there is a small, but increasing, proportion of Asian and Caribbean
people in various forms of self-employment. That is to say, there is a small Asian
and Caribbean petite-bourgeoisie. The highest of self-employment is
amongst people of Asian origin ; 24,5 % of East African Asian men and 15,4 % of
East African Asian women are self-employed, while for Indian and Pakistani/
Bangladeshi men the proportions are 21,2 % and 16,6 % respectively, and for relations and racism in Britain in the 1980s 225 Class
Indian and Pakistani/ Bangladeshi women, the proportions are 9,9 % and 12,3