Maria Hudson

Ethnicity and low wage traps: favouritism, homosocial reproduction and economic marginalization:

This article analyses the relationship between cultural difference, social connections and opportunity structures using interview evidence from low-paid workers and managers in local government, the health service, facilities management and housing. Exploring the operation of homosocial reproduction it reveals the double-edged nature of informality and the role of favouritism in particular in perpetuating ethnic advantage and privilege. While demonstrating that uses of homosocial reproduction need to be sensitive to intersections of identities or categories of difference, the article adds further evidence of the persistent gap between equal opportunities policies and practice for ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom labour market. The article concludes that stronger forms of positive action, and even positive discrimination, are needed to address the low pay traps and restricted opportunities of ethnic minority workers.

Migration, Ethnicity and Progression from Low-Paid Work: Implications for Skills Policy

Migration plays an important role in determining skills supply, and certain ethnic groups tend to be over-represented in low-paid work. This article considers the implications of the complex interplay of migration, ethnicity and workplace progression for skills policy by comparing and contrasting the opportunities faced by low-paid workers of diverse ethnicities in progressing to better paid work. This is done by drawing on a qualitative study of nine case study organisations in Scotland and England, including interviews with sixty-five workers and forty-three managers. We argue that while all low-paid workers face formidable barriers to progression, recent migrants and settled ethnic minorities face additional challenges that should be considered in skills and wider social policies related to low-paid work.

‘Rubbing Along with the Neighbours’ — Everyday Interactions in a Diverse Neighbourhood in the North of England

Following disturbances in northern cities of the UK in the summer of 2001, investigations suggested that tensions amongst different ethnic groups were a key factor (Home Office Community Cohesion Unit 2002). In this context community relationships have come under greater scrutiny, with particular emphasis on the role of ethnicity and the meanings and values attached to national identity and ‘integration’. The aftermath of the 2001 disturbances generated a new emphasis in policy with respect to promoting ‘social (and community) cohesion’. Earlier policy discourses around multiculturalism, which emphasised difference and diversity, were said to have gone too far in challenging the notion of a British collective identity, and had presented problems for the ‘integration’ of new communities. The promotion of a stronger sense of community along with greater community involvement, particularly in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods, has become an important strand of current government thinking, infusing policy and strategy across a range of departments (Phillips 2006; Hudson et al. 2007). This paper seeks to engage in this debate about the relationship between everyday interactions and community cohesion, by exploring the everyday lives of residents in a diverse neighbourhood where established and new communities are living side by side.

Partnership in Practice

This paper examines human resource management practices adopted in a group of eight case study firms and their tendencies towards versus away from partnership. The analysis is based on data collected during interviews with 124 employees (75 in organisations tending towards partnership and 49 in organisations tending away from partnership) and senior managers, conducted in 1997-1998 for the Job Insecurity and Work Intensification Survey (JIWIS). Drawing on the perspectives of senior managers and employees, we examine the tendency of firms towards and away from partnership in employment relations; and in keeping with the JIWIS methodology (Burchell et.al., 2001) we combine quantitative and qualitative evidence in our analysis. Specifically, we are interested in what partnership looks like in these different contexts, the reasons it is pursued (or not), the degree to which companies have been successful in achieving their partnership objectives (from the perspective of both management and employees), and the conditions that have either facilitated or impeded partnership in relationships with employees.