ETHNIC INEQUALITY: 20 marker

Identify evidence of ethnic inequality in two areas of life in the contemporary UK (20).

There is evidence of ethnic inequality in many areas of the contemporary UK, within the media, in schools, in the criminal justic system, and in terms of wealth. This discrimination of an individual, or group, due to racial, ethnic and colour differences however, is most common in the media, and in crime. 

The Ministry of Justice reported that black people are 7x more likely than white people to be stopped and searched; 5x more likely to be in prison, and 3.5x more likely to be arrested. This statistic, alongside the fact that the makeup of the criminal justice system and police force are whitle, reveals that black people are over-identified in all stages of the crime system, and white people are under-identified. 

The Prison Reform Trust discovered that out of the British national prison population, 10% of prisoners were black, 6% were asian - suggesting that ethnic minorities are more likely to be targetted and discrimminated against in the criminal justic system, as they make up only 2.8% of our general population. Interactionists, or labelling theorists such as Cicourel, would argue that this is due to police holding certain 'typifications', or racial stereotypes, against ethnic minority groups. They use these discriminatory judgements to interpret the behaviour of the suspected deviants and the closer a person comes to the stereotype, the more likely they are to be arrested, charged and convicted of the crime. 

Holdaway stated that a 'canteen culture' is formed within British police forces, whereby police share stereotypical values and beliefs to one another, due to the strains and pressures of the job, such as danger, long hours and fear of hostility. Sharing such beliefs meant that police could find release from these pressures, but it lead them to be more aware of ethnic minoirites as criminals. This reinforces the Macpherson Report's statement that the Metropolitan…