Essay
Identify evidence of ethnic inequality in two areas of social life [20 marks]
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A grade essay (18/20 marks) Evidence of ethnic inequality in two areas of social life
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Iden fy evidence of ethnic inequality in two areas of social life [20]Ethnic inequality refers to people being treated di erently due to ethnic background, and consequently varying ethnic
groups have access to di erent opportuni es and services; be it things such as healthcare or even standard of living.
Ethnic inequality can be seen in two areas of social life: crime and educa on.
Evidence of ethnic inequality can arguably seen in crime when looking at arrest rates and prison popula on in the UK,
as these o en re ect di eren al treatment of certain ethnic minori es. Sta s cs from the Home O ce 2009 suggest
that black people in par cular are four mes more likely to be arrested than white people. This means that 9% of black
people are arrested when compared with them only making up 2% of the UK popula on. In addi on, Asian groups
appear in dispropor onate numbers with Asians making up 13% of the prison popula on whereas all ethnic minori es
in the UK only account for 15% of the popula on. Both of these sta s cs show that ethnic minori es are
overrepresented in arrest and incarcera on rates, sugges ng a level of selec ve law enforcement. Furthermore,
bowling and Phillips argue that black people are more likely to be criminalised as well as be the vic ms of crime. This is
supported by the CSEW 2012 sugges ng that black and Asian groups are more at risk of being the vic m of a crime
compared to white people.
Ethic inequality can also be seen in terms of treatment within the criminal jus ce system, as there is evidence of unfair
treatment of both the o ender and the vic m based on ethnicity. This is linked to the idea of insistu onal racism.
Ins tu onal racism refers to the di eren al treatment of di erent ethnici es within an organisa on, such as failure to
provide adequate service based on a person’s background. This can be seen in many high pro le cases, such as the
case of Stephen Lawrence: Lawrence was a young male from a black ethnic background stabbed to death by white
youths, and it was revealed that the police failed to punish the o enders due to an inadequate inves ga on. This is
evidence of how speci cally a police department can be corrupted by racist a tudes. These stereotypical ideas that
some policemen hold can be referred to as a “canteen culture”. Ins tu ons such as these tend to re ect their ideas
onto the wider community, and so this may also provide an explana on for unfair treatment of ethnic minori es
outside of the criminal jus ce system.
Within educ on, inequality can be seen in di erences in outcome between di erent ethnic groups. This means
di erences in a ainment such as grades achieved, or even the pursuit of higher educa on and employment. The
Department for Educa on 2014 highlighted di erences in a ainment through the amount of students achieving A* to
C grades at GCSE: for Chinese students this was 75%, closely followed by Indian at 73%, Bri sh at 56% and Gypsy-Roma
at only 8%. This inequality may produce further inequality at later stages in life, as certain GCSEs are required for
di erent courses and colleges. Another sta s c sugges ng inequality of outcome is from the Department for
Educa on 2019, which stated that in Gloucestershire 12.4% of black students are excluded from secondary schools
compared with 2.4% of white students. This naturally suggests that within educa on perhaps black students achieve
lower due to the fact that they are excluded from the opportuni es other ethnici es are o ered.
There is also sociological evidence of labelling of certain minori es leading to unfair treatment within educa on.
Studies of secondary schools by both Gillborn and Sewell indicated that teachers have stereotypical ideas about black
boys and so are likely to interpret their behaviour nega vely. This links to the idea of overt racism, which is displayed in
schools when teachers have higher expecta ons of other students such as Asian students and so treat them based
upon this. This may mean that more e ort and me is spent with certain ethnic groups, allowing them to achieve
higher a ainment. Interac onists look at this labelling process and would claim that the students seen as higher
achieving are given a “halo” (halo e ect), and again the teachers would interact with these students in a way that
pushes them towards a higher level of success. In support of this, recent studies have linked low a ainment of
par cularly Gypsy traveller students with nega ve labelling an treatment in schools. Derrington and Kendall studied 44
Gypsy traveller students aged 11 to 16 and found that due to this, only 3 students achieved 5 or more A* to C grade
GCSEs. This group may also experience inequality in educa on due to outside factors such as having to carry out house
work as well as study. All of these are contribu ng factors to ethnic inequality within educa on.
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