On the list of the twenty countries with the lowest GDP per person there is no white country.
Out of the twenty-five richest people in the world twenty of them are white and the others who are not have gained their money from their families. This shows the position of Caucasians in the world and the position of other ethnicities. While in Luxemburg the GDP per person is over $55 thousand dollars it is $500 in East Timor. While Bill Gates is worth over $50 billion dollars so much money that it is impossible to think of what to do with it, children in third world countries are thinking how they will get there next meal.
In The United Kingdom many studies have been carried out into this topic as well as the census, which takes place every ten years. This is particularly reliable as it includes every person living in the UK so we get all the information.
The UK population: by ethnic group, April 2001
The size of the minority ethnic population was 4.6 million in 2001 or 7.9 per cent of the total population of the United Kingdom. Indians were the largest minority group, followed by Pakistanis, those of mixed ethnic backgrounds, Black Caribbeans, Black Africans, and Bangladeshis. The remaining minority ethnic groups each accounted for less than 0.5 per cent but together accounted for a further 1.4 per cent of the UK population. Ethnic group data were not collected on the Northern Ireland Census in 1991. However, in Great Britain the minority ethnic population grew by 53 per cent between 1991 and 2001, from 3.0 million in 1991 to 4.6 million in 2001. Half of the total minority ethnic population were Asians of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, or other Asian origin. A quarter of minority ethnic people described themselves as Black that is Black Caribbean, Black African or Other Black. Fifteen per cent of the minority ethnic population described their ethnic group as Mixed. About a third of this group were from White and Black Caribbean backgrounds.
Minority ethnic groups have lower levels of household income than the White population. This pattern reflects considerable variation in the main sources of income. Pakistani and Bangladeshi households were heavily reliant on social security benefits – which made up nearly a fifth (19 per cent) of their income. Benefits were also a considerable source of income for the Black group (15 per cent). Pakistani and Bangladeshi households were the least likely to obtain income from earnings, reflecting their higher unemployment rates. Wages and salaries made up only around a third (36 per cent) of their total household income, whereas for other groups this proportion was around two-thirds. Pakistani and Bangladeshi households were much more reliant on earnings from self-employment than other groups. Over a third of their total income came from this source compared with 13 per cent for Indians and around a tenth or less for other groups. Pensions accounted for around 5 per cent of household income for each of the minority ethnic groups compared with 13 per cent for White people. This reflects the older age structure of the White population. The "other sources" bar in the chart also includes investments and tax credits.
Low-income households are very common in ethnic minorities with the highest being in Pakistani and Bangladeshi households. Then Black non – Caribbeans with almost 30%, follows it.
This shows the unemployment statistics in the UK, only 5% of White people were unemployed while as on average the other groups had double unemployed. Again we see that Bangladeshi people had the highest rate of unemployment meaning they rely on benefits from the government. In all ethnicities women had a higher percentage unemployed, in the Bengalis case it was 40% of the women unemployed. But this graph is on households not on a single person.
Well the highest factor in the low income is lack of qualification provided by education. We see that whites are the second highest overall in receiving over 5 GCSEs. But there is great pressure in girls from minorities to become housewives; this is the reason for Indian girls not working.
Many reports have been filed on this issue some of these I have examined like the Cathy march trust, which focuses on women. Her trusts survey concludes that one of the major factors in ethnic minorities having a low-income household is that women do not work. As most of these women have many children and pressure from their families to stay and look after these children.
The EIS (Ethnic income survey) suggests that racism is still a major cause of minorities being unemployed or having a low income. They have found this out by interviewing managers of companies using a snowball method. The managers say that they do not want foreigners to take valuable job positions away from the British nationals.
Methodology
There are two types of data, these are called qualitative, and quantitative. Quantitative data is in numerical form and is used to collect statistics and rates, this is usually gained using large scale methods. Qualitative data is presented as words and is used to get opinions; this is gained using less standard methods. The main ways of gaining primary source of data includes questionnaires, interviews, and observations. Each has a different process and a different use, which I will go through.
- Questionnaire
A questionnaire is usually used to survey a huge number of people, as there is no reason to hire an interviewer. Also the same questions can be printed off in it’s thousands this will mean you can reach a huge audience. Plus the payers are portable and can be sent off to anywhere in the world giving a range of repliers. This is fantastic in getting quantitative data to make statistics as so many people can do them. The problem with these questionnaires is that people may not reply or give false information to sensitive issues that they may tell confidentially to an interviewer. Also a person may not understand what a question is asking them to do and there will be no one to clarify it to them.
- Interviews
There are to types of interviews, structured and unstructured. Structured interviews are conducted with a set of questions and unstructured interviews are not but the interviewer guides the interviewee towards what they are trying to find out. In both the interviewer can clarify a question and reassure the confidentiality of the interview so the participant may answer certain personal questions. Unstructured interviews are very good at getting qualitative data but they have big problems such as the data can be lost because the interview is not recorded. This is because this type of interview is used to gain trust from the interviewee and this trust will be lost if they see the interview is being recorded.
Another problem with interviews is that you cannot get to many people as each interview takes a lot of time and there is only a certain number of interviewers you can afford.
- Observation
Observations take place when a sociologist watches and listen to the studied group and records what happens. Participant observation involves joining in with the studied group; this is done in two ways. Firstly there is overt participant observation, which means the studied group is made aware that the sociologist is recording what is going on. These observations have problems in the way that it cannot be guided and that it is very hard to organise them. Covert participant observation means that the studied group is unaware that there is a study being conducted on them. This method has many ethical issues against it and is only used in very difficult issues such is infiltrating terrorists.
To carry out any survey you must have a sample of the population to study, as it is it may be too costly to question the whole population. The most important aspect is that the survey is representative of the population so it will be accurate. There are many different types of sampling methods, these methods come under two categories: random and non – random. A random sample is one that every member of the population has an equal chance of getting chosen.
Random sampling method
- Simple random sampling
This is choosing someone at a complete random; the potential problem with this is that the sample may not be representative.
- Stratified random sampling
This is more accurate than the simple form as the population is divided into strata then a sample is taken from each stratum.
(III) Cluster sampling
The technique in this is to use geographical areas and take a sample from them so as to get the information from all different parts of the studied vicinity.
Non-random sampling
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Systematic sampling
This involves taking a population and selecting the nth person as part of the sample. The problem in this is again that the sample may not be representative of the population.
- Snowball sampling
When studying a population that has no sampling frame this method is used, the sociologist gains the trust of one member and slowly gets information from them and how to find other members of the same population. But this method is not going to be representative, as only certain members of the population will be found.
- Quota sampling
This method is not random but it takes members of a certain population in for studying. Market researchers prefer this method and randomly select people off the streets who fit the population being surveyed. The problem with this method is that the researcher may make a mistake and place someone in the wrong category.
Plan of research
The two methods of data collection I have chosen are questionnaires and structured interviews. This is because the questionnaire is simple to do, as I can make one and print many off to different people. Also this will allow me to survey many people and is perfect in getting quantitative data. For more qualitative data and more in depth research I have chosen structured interviewing. This is because I can get in depth opinions of people without worrying about trying to control the conversation as in an unstructured interview.
The method of sampling I have chosen is quota; this is because I will need a powerful computer to randomly select from a population of millions; secondary school students. With this method I can get a representative study by selecting people who fit the strata for example equal representations of Caucasians and Asians.
I will only question secondary school students as I have unlimited access to them and will get the highest rate of return. Also the students can give us information about their parents and domestic lives that is essential to this study.
Pilot Study
Plan
Before I conduct my study I will conduct a pilot study to test the waters of my research. This pilot study will help me make any changes to my questionnaire and this may give me more factors to add to my study such as including the same amount of boys to girls. This pilot study will also allow me to estimate how many returns I will get from my questionnaires sent out and maybe a way to improve my method of collection. I will send out six questionnaires, this is a good number as I don’t need to carry out a big study and if there are any changes needed to be made one out of the six will to spot it.
Results
All six of my questionnaires came back, which means that I can carry out a bigger survey, as I know I will get returns. There were some spelling and grammar mistakes that I will know correct after being found by the participants. The biggest change to have come out of the pilot study is that I have not asked any qualitative data gathering questions, which get the opinions of the participant.
Results
Questionnaires
I have conducted eighteen questionnaires with a quota sampling method and I have chosen a representative sample. I have asked almost an equal amount of white people to other ethnicities to get the statistics of both races and I have also questioned people of a mix race. I will count the mixed race people under other races instead of in the Caucasian list because my study is asking about full Caucasians. The sample also was of different classes; working class and middle class, and of both genders to keep it representative. This gets the opinions of people from most walks of life.
The questions, which were quantitative, were coded to make it much easier to understand and store the result. This cannot be done with the qualitative data, as there are too many possible answers.
Question 1: 1= Caucasian 2= Black 3= Asian
Question 2: 1=Unemployed 2=Unskilled worker 3=Skilled worker 4= Professional
Question 3: 1=Unemployed 2=Unskilled worker 3=Skilled worker 4= Professional
Question 4: 1= No 2 = Yes 3= Don’t know
Question 5: 1= No 2 = Yes 3= Don’t know
Question 6: 1= No 2 = Yes 3= Don’t know
Question 7: 1= No 2 = Yes 3= Don’t know
Question 8: 1= No 2 = Yes 3= Don’t know
Employment
This shows that Caucasians are doing much better employment wise, with no fathers unemployed an only about fifteen percent of mothers who are housewives. Also most Caucasians are professionals while most other races are unemployed. Around seventy percent of other race mothers are unemployed and fifty percent of other race fathers are unemployed. This is a huge difference between the two groups.
Graduation
This shows us that Caucasians are much more highly qualified the other races. Fifty percent of other race households do not have a graduate parent when only about thirty-five of Caucasian households do not have a graduate parent. Over sixty percent of Caucasian households do have a graduated parent when thirty five percent or other race households do.
House owner ship
We can clearly see hear that Caucasians by a huge margin are much more likely to own the house they live in.
Future Plans
I asked the participants in this questionnaire about there future plans, with Caucasians the reply was almost always the same they all want to graduate and work in a professional job. While with other races I got a mixed response as some wanted the same as the Caucasians. Most were either unsure of their future plans or did not want to go to university and thought they would be a skilled or more likely an unskilled worker.
Also I noticed that most Caucasians felt no pressure to go to university and their parents had already graduated. But the other race students who wanted to go to university had pressure on them. not always were the students wanting to go to university had graduate parents also.
Interviews
For my qualitative data I conducted six interviews and I had a couple of open-ended questions in my questionnaire. My questionnaire showed about ninety percent of the participants thought that racism still stops people of other ethnicities from getting certain jobs and more than that thought Caucasians were more successful in later life than other ethnicities. These questions were answered one hundred percent in the interviews.
Participants gave many reasons why there was still racism amongst certain jobs the main reason given is that the bosses were mainly white males who wanted white males under their employment. Others thought that Caucasians were in all the positions for so long that they don’t want to give it up. Another response was that most major bosses were from a middle class countryside background and did not know other races. A few participants said that a member of his family had been discriminated out of a job position.
All participants thought that Caucasians do better in later life the other ethnicities and gave many reasons why. Most thought that Caucasians had more opportunities than people from other races. Others said that most Caucasians had qualified parents and only knew that life style. Also Caucasian parents taught their children to succeed.
I asked the participants of the interviews if they thought that racism would ever stop they all answered no they said maybe one day Caucasians will not be on top but the ethnicity that takes over will discriminate and try to keep themselves on top. All participants said that racism is now much less than it used to be and is always improving.
All participants said that men from other races are doing better then the women; most said this is because most of these women are housewives. This is because of their upbringing and culture that they do not work and think it is more important for them to look after the children. Also they have much more children then the Caucasian women so it is harder for them to get a job and leave the children.
Conclusion
Overall I have found that Caucasians do become more successful in later life than other ethnicities. But men form other races are doing better than women from other races because of their culture. His is also baked by my quantitative data showing these women are much more likely to be unemployed and not have gone to university. This is also shown by my secondary data in the stats from the UK 2001/02 census.
Another aim that has been reached is to find out weather racism still exists has also been proven as my interviews show. All participants have said there is still racism amongst people of other races from getting certain jobs. This aim cannot be backed by quantitative data, as it is very difficult to obtain data of this sort.
My interviews back each other as nearly all results say the same thing; there is almost hundred percent feedback that Caucasians do become more successful in later life than other ethnicities. Also racism still stops people of other ethnicities from getting certain jobs. Men from other ethnicities do better from women because of their cultures.
There are differences between the primary data and secondary data this mainly in the percentage of certain factors. The UK national statistic shows over fifteen percent of women from other ethnicities are unemployed but my study shows that it is about seventy percent. All other percentages are quite different showing higher unemployment.
The qualitative data and quantitative data have some differences, which are minor. The qualitative data suggests that Caucasian parents push their children towards education and going to university. But the quantitative data shows that the Caucasian students feel no pressure on themselves to go to university.
My hypothesis has been proven to a great extent as my study has shown that Caucasians do become more successful in later life than other ethnicities but certain people do not fit this. Some Caucasians are working in unskilled manual labour jobs while some people of other ethnicities are working as professionals.
Evaluation
The quality and usefulness of my data is very high, a lot of my secondary information is from the UK 2001/02 census, this is one hundred percent reliable. My interviews were conducted on people I already knew well but were a representative sample. This means that the people will tell me certain information that they may not give to strangers and they will give opinions of a variety of ethnicities. My sample also was representative of gender and of class.
My method was a hundred percent successful as I gave out eighteen questionnaires and get all eighteen back. The interviews I conducted gave me a real insight to people’s opinions on a strong issue. But these were difficult to record, as I had to conduct the interview and write exactly what the participant was saying at the same time.
There were some problems with my sample as one more person of another race participated in the survey than a Caucasian person. I overcame this by converting everything to percentages to make the results more presentational. Also there was a problem of placing people of mixed race or nationality into a group. The simple ones were of people from the same race such as a half Irish half English person they would go in Caucasian. But I chose to put people from mixed races to the other ethnicity group, as my study was whether Caucasians do better in later life than other ethnicities.
My own performance I think was very good and the participants of my study have said I was very professional. I had one major problem of stopping myself from putting words in the mouth of a participant when they took time over answering a question but I managed it. I found it rather easy to put my results into graphs. Also I believe I have met all my aims.
The only change I would like to make to my study is to make it bigger and maybe go and study people from other parts of the country and maybe get their opinions and information.
Overall I think that my study was a success.
Bibliography
