Equality and Cultural Capital for Ethnic Minorities: Embarking on the Path of Community Learning and Development

By Dr. Iqbal Md Mostafa

In response to the growing concern in a wider community regarding sense of belonging, community cohesion and integration, intolerance, civic irresponsibility, and a degree of hostility that a growing number of people face, the study has had to answer a number of interrelated questions about what qualities are required of a better community in a system of democratic government. It provides evidence of leading knowledge and understanding in the field of equality, cultural capital, and community cohesion and integration. This is done by introducing an alternative perspective or framework to explain how equality claim from cultural capital can be dealt with and why community cohesion and integration of minority ethnics into Scottish culture can be important in order to make real progress in the wider community. The study also generates considerable knowledge and understanding on the issues and debates surrounding ethnic minority communities.

The book seeks to contribute to new knowledge on the connection between citizenship and rights to equality from cultural capital by asking difficult questions about why and how minority ethnic groups in the United Kingdom may need to be more active because of the effect that active citizenship has had on its role within a better community.

The research findings have provided critical new information on the causes of problems being experienced by new arrivals and an unwillingness to integrate shown by many old and new arrivals, affecting equality and community integration process.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Sep 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781546281931

Dr. Iqbal Md Mostafa

Dr Iqbal Md Mostafa, a Commonwealth Scholar who has spent his working life in academia is based in School of Education and Social Work at the University of Dundee. Prior to his move to Dundee, he was Assistant Professor of Public Administration at the University of Chittagong and lectured at Glasgow Caledonian University. His distinguished career has included teaching, research and consultancy to national and international organisations. His main research interests are in migration, public policy, management and administration, community learning and development, race and ethnic relations, ethnicity and identity politics. His knowledge of race and immigration and expertise and interest in the political and social organisations and applied sociology from cultural capital, integration and equality perspectives are considerable, and covers a plurality of viewpoints and experiences. Dr Iqbal has constantly and convincingly conveyed a spirit of exciting research experiences and shared with the academia his insights and expertise to analytically analyse exactly what is going on with ethnic minorities world. His unparalleled drive and enthusiasm over the past years have generated some research activities which have made not only a valuable contribution to public management by developing its central concepts and applying them to developing countries but also a unique identification of the building blocks necessary to expand our understanding of the issues faced by our communities embarking on the path of community learning and development He has published widely in the field of Public Administration, Sociology and Community Learning and Development. A forthcoming commitment is to publish a book on immigration, cultural capital, equality, and the knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and social identities of migrant farm workers in Scotland. In this book, his knowledge, understanding and skills drawn from the breadth of social sciences contributes to a detailed analysis of Scotland’s ethnic minorities’ experiences not only in employment but also around their social and cultural capital, noting the urgent need for major reforms in CLD practice. Dr Iqbal is the founder of the Centre for Study and Research (CFSR) and the Editor of CFSR Journal.

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© 2017 Dr. Iqbal Md Mostafa. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  09/30/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5462-8194-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-8193-1 (e)

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Preface

Chapter 1:   Introduction

Context And Setting

Research Questions

Hypothetical Explanation Of Research Questions

Methodology

Chapter 2:   Ethnic Minorities In Scotland

Student/Researcher Experience Features

Chapter 3:   Equality And Cultural Capital: Immigration To Integration

Perspective On Immigration

Community Cohesion And Integration

Student / Researcher Experience Features

Living In Harmony, Not Discord

Harmony Through Dialogue

Community And Change

Equality

Cultural Capital

Citizenship

Equal Opportunities

Better Community As Dynamic Inclusive Community

Chapter 4:   Equality Of Cultural Capital: Ethnic Minority Experiences, Restraint Mechanisms And Enforcements

Restraint Mechanisms And Enforcements

The Next Step

Case Study: Individual Narratives

Chapter 5:   Conclusion And Recommendation

Policy Recommendations

The Contribution Of This Book To A New Literature

References

Appendices

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

About The Author

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Chart 2.1 showing demand from cultural capital as an equality claim

Table 2.1: Ethnic Composition of the United Kingdom, Census 2011

Table 2.2: Ethnic Group Demographics

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is with immense gratitude that I acknowledge the support of Professor Susan Rodrigues of the Liverpool Hope University, UK who first encouraged me to undertake a high-profile research on migration and was a key influence on my decision to carry out this project. I can’t thank her enough.

I would like to express the deepest appreciation to Professor Brian Smith (former Dean of Arts and Social Science, University of Dundee, UK) for his insightful comments he made on different elements of my work. I would like to thank him for his endless patience and support throughout the research process.

I was fortunate to receive the help and support from Ms Justine Lopez, Publishing Consultant of AuthorHouse. I am indebted to her.

I would also like to thank my mother Syeda Rowshan Ishaque for all of her love and selfless sacrifices. I have the greatest admiration for my wonderful wife Ismat Chowdhury, without whom this book would have been impossible to publish. Words cannot express my gratitude to her for her endless patience, encouragement and belief in my ability to succeed.

Finally, it gives me great pleasure in acknowledging the support and help of my oldest son, Adeeb Al Mostafa, who, just the other day said to me, It makes me feel better if I design your Table of Contents page. He and our other three sons Isam, Umayr and Zayyan have always stood by me and dealt with many difficult situations with a smile. I couldn’t have done it without your love and support!

PREFACE

In response to the growing concern in wider community regarding sense of belonging, community cohesion and integration, intolerance, civic irresponsibility and a degree of hostility that a growing number of people face, the study has had to answer a number of interrelated questions about what qualities are required of a better community in a system of democratic government. It provides evidence of leading knowledge and understanding in the field of equality, cultural capital and community cohesion and integration. This is done by introducing an alternative perspectives and frameworks to explain how equality claim from cultural capital can be dealt with and why community cohesion and integration of minority ethnics into Scottish culture can be important in order to make real progress in the wider community. The study also generates considerable knowledge and understanding on the issues and debates surrounding ethnic minority communities.

The book seeks to contribute to new knowledge on citizenship and rights to equality from cultural capital by asking difficult question about why and how minority ethnic groups in the UK may need to be more active because of the effect that active citizenship has had on its role within a better community. The research findings have provided critical new information on the causes of problems being experienced by new arrivals and unwillingness to integrate shown by many old and new arrivals affecting equality and community integration process.

I would like to

dedicate this book to my late father

Professor Dr M Ishaque

for leaving behind an inspiring academic legacy that my family can follow and for giving me the greatest gift: his trust, understanding and unconditional love

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

In response to the growing concern in a wider community regarding intolerance, civic irresponsibility and a degree of hostility that a growing number of people face (Alexander and Alleyne, 2002:54; Best 2005:154; Etzioni, 1996; Selbourne, 1994), studies of community learning and development (CLD) have generally not had much to say about how such concern can effectively be dealt with. Concern that arises in various legal, economic, social and political contexts can occur due to several reasons. One of the reasons why concerns are often raised is that people from a different race or nationality move from their country of origin to the more affluent states.

There are hours in history when human beings are on the move, from country to country, it is sometimes difficult to stop them. The movement of ethnic minorities as immigrants around the world occurs for a number of reasons. Scholars from many disciplines, argue that migrants move from their own country into another one in order to tap opportunities and resources that do not exist in their own country of origin and therefore improve one’s circumstances and those of one’s progeny (Haynes, 2009). For skilled persons, migration provides job opportunities by mobilizing one’s social capital or acquiring cultural capital in ways not possible or available in their country of origin. For others who suffer due to several reasons, for instance, civil war, political upheaval, genocide, extreme economic disparity, and environmental disasters, migration provides ultimate haven, a practicable choice and a place of safety or sanctuary.

The movement of ethnic minorities’ however has never occurred smoothly without resistance. The movement has always been subject to various public anxieties (Huber et. al. 2010) and `is almost certain to be resisted at local level’ (Walzer, 1983: 38). Mostafa (2007) has stated:

It is a fact that all migrants to any society are initially faced with a degree of hostility because they come from very different environments encounter problems at a time when they are in a strange surrounding, having to cope at once with settling into a new environment, and trying to be socialised into a different set of cultural values that may not be compatible with the values of the host community.

Richardson and Lambert has explained the situation in the following terms (Richardson and Lambert 1985):

◆ The immigrants are strangers by virtue of their colour and culture.

◆ The host society is confused and insecure and, as a result, reacts with both hostility and intolerance.

◆ The host society is stable and does not have any fundamental conflicts within it.

◆ This stability is temporarily disturbed by immigrants. Order is restored, however, when the immigrants adapt to British society and the white population accepts immigrants.

◆ This process of adaptation and acceptance may be broken into several phases which can proceed at varying speeds and may be complete after several generations have passed.

This argument was later reinforced when Best wrote:

In the case of the United Kingdom, Irish, Jewish and Flemish migrants all faced discrimination (Best 2005:155).

Whatever reasons behind the migration of ethnic minorities’, communities to which they go should not be concerned about ‘whether a person comes from this country or that or has this skin colour or that, or adhere to this religious practice or that!’ (Mostafa, 2007: 31). Instead, community should suggest a scale at which people can easily interact and recognize one another. They can feel the recognition of their cultural capital and the absence of major discrimination and inequality and of exploitation and oppression.

Nevertheless, there are concerns due to the movement of ethnic groups into the host society that has stability and no major conflicts exist within it (Richardson and Lambert, 1985). In this book, I argue that such concerns can create conflicts and controversies usually between new arrivals and locals and often between members of ethnic minorities and other actors such as service providers and local communities. I also argue due to conflicts and concerns ethnic minorities may experience exploitation, a devaluation or non-recognition of their cultural heritage, skill, and knowledge that we call cultural capital and that they bring from their country of origin to the country of migration. Consequently, demands for recognition and protection of ethnic minorities’ cultural capital can be raised and equality claims from cultural capital can be articulated in such conflicts.

Research on ethnic minorities has not tended to pay attention on how different actors’ (such as employers, service providers and local communities) handling ethnic minorities’ affairs including their rights from cultural capital may continue to challenge existing theories of integration, equality and cultural capital. Adequate attention has not been paid by CLD on how this growing demand for equality from cultural capital can effectively be dealt with and how this demand may have an impact upon ethnic minorities experiences not only in employment but also around their social and cultural transitions.

The focus of community learning and development (CLD) has always been on how to empower individuals, groups and communities and bring about change in their lives and communities, rather than how the large scale movement of international migrants from their country of origin to the country of migration has given ethnic populations the social and cultural capital to navigate their migration pathways through a new social and physical setting in which they are to cope with new culture and interact with different actors.

Not much is known about such migration pathways and how employment experiences of ethnic minorities resonate with key themes in contemporary equality literature or how ethnic minorities can interact and cope with different actors such as employers, service providers and local communities. Indeed, little is known about the extent to which these recent arrivals to new destinations experience the process of social and cultural transitions. CLD practice does not cover a wide range practice including how integration of ethnic groups may need to be associated with equal opportunity to find out what the core criteria for integration are and how such criteria might be laid out in practical terms. Although harmony was always seen from religious perspective to promote community integration and cohesion so much has not been said about why, for almost everyone, a sense of belonging to the wider community is so important, and how the contribution of members of the minority towards community can be judged.

There is considerable disagreement among contributors over how diverse immigrant cultures are to be embraced within a distinct dominant white group without losing their identity, national characteristics and culture (McMillan and Chavis, 1986). The literature locates a point that shared identities alongside a national identity which can be kept so that original identities cannot be lost (The Home Secretary, September