Thursday, July 13, 2017
Gilbert Scott Building - Room 132 (University of Glasgow)
Ethnic diversity in Britain has considerably increased in recent decades. This has had a significant impact on issues of social inclusion, i.e. access to societal resources and institutions allowing individuals to become full members of a given society (Oxoby 2009). The paper contributes to this debate by investigating the patterns of ethnic minority inclusion within British socio-economic and civic-political institutions (schools; the labour market; civic and political life). Research has primarily focussed on these forms of inclusion separately, however we think these should be considered together as they are likely to coexist and influence one another. Recent evidence has indeed highlighted a link between lower levels of socio-economic inclusion and civic-political exclusion (Heath et al., 2013; Lessard-Phillips, 2015). Nonetheless, a possible trade-off between disadvantaged socio-economic outcomes and civic-political engagement for some ethnic groups has also been found (Maxwell 2012). This calls for further research on the dynamic interplay between these spheres of inclusion. Therefore, we draw on longitudinal data from Understanding Society (2009-2014) and the linkage to the British Household Panel Study (1991-2009), and we apply appropriate methods of longitudinal data analysis to (1) determine the outcomes in each sphere and their combination at specific points in time; (2) track the evolution of these outcomes and combinations over time; (3) specify the causal processes connecting the two spheres of inclusion; (4) and explore whether these pathways of inclusion differ along ethnic, generational, gender and class lines, but also between ethnic minority and majority groups.
