Ethnicity at work

This book deals with ethnicity in the
workplace, illustrating the ways in
which particular groups of people
organise their working lives, the
symbols by which they identify with
their work and with each other, and
the particular constraints to which
each must adapt. The editor's
introduction provides a framework
for the ten original papers.

Each of the first five case studies
focuses on a single ethnic group -
English Gypsies, British Jews,
Macedonians in Toronto's restaurant
trade, Punjabis in British steel
foundries and South Asian women in
London. Each case demonstrates the
extent to which the meaning and effect
of ethnicity are specific to the context
in which they are expressed. The book
therefore moves away from the
conventional view of ethnicity as a
single and consistent identity with
which the individual is fixed by birth
or upbringing. It proposes instead that
ethnicity is one of a cluster of identity
options whose value is enhanced in
some circumstances and denied in
others.

The second set of papers focuses on
the formal structure of various kinds
of work and examines the scope each
offers to 'informal' systems of
organisation. Four specific work
structures are explored: a local
government bureaucracy; a multi-
activity industrial company; an
individualistic business enterprise; and
the casual labour market. The final
chapter argues how complementary
are formal and informal organisations.
Together, the five papers underline
the dynamics of opportunity and
constraint by which systems of work
and ethnicity are bounded