Sport as a cultural system: sports policies and (new) ethnicities in Lyon and Birmingham

‘Sport promotes integration’: this idea seems to be commonly accepted both in France and in the UK, even though the authorities in each country see the issue of ‘ethnic minorities’ very differently. This article draws on research based on interviews with the main actors of ‘socio–sports’ policies in the cities of Lyon and Birmingham and on analysis of consultation procedures and official documents, to show that sport provides a set of symbolic markers that helps the authorities, professionals and ‘ethnic minorities’ to get their bearings in an uncertain multicultural situation. Although ‘ethnic minorities’ try to control the direction of sports policies in pursuit of their own objectives, their strategies tend to be ‘routinized’ around markers legitimized by the authorities in response to the success of certain sporting practices. Sports policies, therefore, promote ‘security’ of identity for these ‘minorities’ by ‘mapping’ their environment using the values and principles of sport. ‘Le sport favorise l’int´gration’: cette idée semble communément admise en France et en Grande–Bretagne alors même que leurs autorités respectives envisagent de manière très différente la question des ‘minorités ethniques’. À partir d’une recherche fondée sur des entretiens avec les principaux acteurs des politiques ‘socio–sportives‘ des villes de Lyon et de Birmingham, et sur l’analyse des procédures de concertation et des documents officiels, l’analyse montre que le sport trace des repères symboliques qui permettent aux pouvoirs publics, aux professionnels et aux ‘minorités ethniques’ de s’orienter dans une réalité multiculturelle incertaine. Mais si ces dernières tentent de contrôler l’orientation des politiques sportives de manière à poursuivre leurs propres objectifs, leurs stratégies tendent également à se ‘routiniser’ autour des repères que les pouvoirs publics ont légitimé pour répondre au succès des pratiques sportives. Les politiques sportives favorisent dès lors la ‘sécurisation’ identitaire de ces ‘minorités’ en ‘cartographiant’ leur environnement à l’aide des valeurs et des principes du sport.     

Homelessness and the Universal Family in China

Depending on how one defines homelessness, China has either a very tiny homeless population or an extremely large one. Compared to other countries, there very few vagrants: people living on the streets of China's cities without means of support. But if one counts the people who migrated to cities without a legal permit (hukou), work as day laborers without job security or a company dormitory, and live in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions on the edge of cities, there are nearly 300 million homeless. Free market fundamentalism is responsible for the emergence of this sort of homelessness in China. We review China's recent new policies to tackle homelessness and offer suggestions based on the traditional Chinese wisdom, which includes the concept of the universal family (family - tian xia). Homelessness in China must be addressed as a cultural problem caused by the breakdown of ancient methods of social integration. Treating it merely as a housing deficit will fail.     

Pushed out or pulled in? Self-employment among ethnic minorities in England and Wales

High rates of self-employment among ethnic minorities in England and Wales are investigated using a framework in which the self-employment decision is influenced by ethnic-specific attributes as well as sectoral earnings differentials. As expected, differences in an individual's predicted earnings in paid and self-employment are strongly correlated with self-employment decisions. Individuals with low English fluency, and recent immigrants, are less likely than other members of ethnic minorities to be self-employed. Perhaps surprisingly, this is also true of individuals living in “enclaves” — areas with a high percentage of their own ethnic group. The relatively deprived nature of such areas of England and Wales may explain this.     

Ethnic minority participation in British and French cities: a historical–institutionalist perspective

In this article, I set out to explain cross–national variations between styles of ethnic minority incorporation in the conventional political systems of British and French cities. To this aim, I draw inspiration from, and refine, institutionalist approaches to minority participation. I focus on a comparison of two cases, Birmingham (England) and Lille (France). I construct a parsimonious explanatory framework focused on three institutional factors: central–local relations in each country and local party politics and styles of local government in each city. I argue that these elements combine in different ways in each country to produce different local political environments for the politics of ethnic minorities, thereby shaping patterns of participation and conditioning their success, or absence thereof, in the electoral process of cities. Because of local specificities, my two cases are not entirely representative of other cities, but they provide an illustration of the political processes at work in most cities. In Birmingham, minorities participate successfully in Labour party politics, while in Lille, they are submitted to persistent political exclusion at the hands of a powerful Socialist party machine. Cet article vise à expliquer les variations transnationales entre les styles d’intégration des minorités ethniques dans les systèmes politiques classiques de villes britanniques et françaises. Dans ce but, il s’inspire, en les affinant, des approches institutionnalistes de la participation des minorités, et s’appuie sur la comparaison de deux cas: Birmingham (Royaume–Uni) et Lille (France). Ce travail élabore un simplifié cadre explicatif reposant sur trois facteurs institutionnels: les relations central–local dans chaque pays, la politique locale/parti, ainsi que les styles de gouvernement local dans chaque ville. Ces éléments se combinent différemment dans chaque pays et génèrent des environnements politiques locaux distincts pour la politique des minorités ethniques, façonnant ainsi des modèles de participation et conditionnant leur réussite ou échec dans le processus électoral urbain. A cause des spécificités locales, les deux cas ne sont pas tout à fait représentatifs d’autres villes, mais ils illustrent les processus politiques opérant dans la plupart d’entre elles. A Birmingham, les minorités participent avec succès à la politique du parti travailliste tandis qu’à Lille, elles sont soumises à une exclusion politique persistante face à la puissante machine du parti socialiste.     

Supporting the free and competitive market in China and India: Differences and evolution over time

This paper analyzes the support to market competition by Indian and Chinese citizens. In particular, I study the individual preferences with respect to some characteristics of a free and competitive market. The paper aims at establishing whether preferences in these countries are different and their evolution over the time. This is an important issue, as the economic literature shows that people's preferences and policies tend to go hand in hand. This means that the analysis of today's preferences and their evolution over time can be useful to forecast tomorrow's policies. The main findings of this paper are that Indians and Chinese are different in supporting competition. The Chinese express preferences that are more in line with a free and competitive market than Indians do. The detected time path reveals that this support has been decreasing over time during the last two decades. The two populations appear to be in favour of a capitalistic, but strictly regulated market. This can mean that the future economic policies of these Asian giants will tend to this direction. Apparently there are no risks for some form of capitalism, but it is likely the two countries will not adopt completely free and competitive market institutions.     

Between a rock and a hard place: managing diversity in a shareholder society

This study examines whether the appointment of racial/ethnic minorities into top management positions has a different impact on share price than the appointment of Caucasians into equivalent positions. Our dependent variable is the degree of change in share price following the announcement of racial/ethnic minority and Caucasian men into senior management positions. Market reaction to the naming of racial/ethnic minorities into corporate leadership positions is significant and negative, while the market's reaction to the naming of Caucasians is significant and positive. However, the negative market reaction to the appointment of racial/ethnic minorities into top management positions is mitigated in those firms that have explicitly incorporated diversity into their strategic growth plan. Our findings suggest that to successfully introduce diversity into upper management, firm decision makers must first signal the importance of diversity to market actors.     

The Rise of Ethnicity under China's Market Reforms

This article investigates the dynamic relationship between economic development and the identification of ethnic minorities and argues that identification of China's ethnic minorities manifests itself at various levels. At the national level, the introduction of market mechanisms and economic growth initiatives have been concentrated predominantly in the coastal areas and metropolises, and are thus increasingly distant from ethnic minorities, a disproportionate majority of which reside in the western parts of the country. This growing regional disparity has placed ethnic regions and populations in a distinctly unfavourable position in terms of economic engagement and development. Regional development in the ethnic‐minority homelands has been characterized by the representation and reinvention of ethnic cultural traditions and the production of cultural economies. Unequal economic growth has resulted in a massive migration of ethnic minorities to the cities. Simultaneously, urban development has reinforced ethnic identity, particularly through urban labour‐market development. Urban and regional development has, in turn, led to the production, activation and magnification of ethnic identity at individual and group levels.     

City Children and Genderfied Neighbourhoods: The New Generation as Urban Regeneration Strategy

Former industrial cities in the West are employing gentrification as urban policy. In these policies, women and families currently play an important role as gentrification pioneers. In my analysis of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, I propose the term genderfication to understand the gender dimensions of this process. Genderfication refers to the production of space for different gender relations. I analyse Rotterdam's urban planning program for becoming a ‘child‐friendly city’, which entails replacing existing urban dwellings with new, larger and more expensive ‘family‐friendly homes’ as a strategy for urban re‐generation. Urban re‐generation supplements regeneration in the form of material and economic restructuring, and refers to the replacement of part of the current population by a new and better suited generation. The ‘child‐friendly city program’ is considered in tandem with punitive ‘youth policies’.     

Post-Thatcherite Urban Planning and Politics: a Major Change?

The political ideology driving urban statutory planning in the United Kingdom has held a central place within planning literature during the 1980s and 1990s. The distinctiveness of leadership style and political ideology associated with the Thatcher governments have been widely recognized both in practice and academia. However, the distinctiveness of political ideology to determine the form and status of statutory urban planning since John Major acceded to the prime ministership in 1990 has not been assessed so markedly. Questions emerge on whether Thatcherite ideology is continuing in the 1990s within the realm of planning and environment, of whether a watered down version of New Right policies are being implemented, or whether central government policies towards planning over the last six years marked a change in ideological direction. This paper examines statutory planning during the Major years with reference to the ideological components of Thatcherism. From this assessment, a comparative analysis is undertaken of both political administrations. The paper concludes by finding that although elements of Thatcherite ideology are continuing, there have been initiatives that move away from the primacy of the market. However, these do not form any ‘big theory’: the differences between Thatcher and Major are more related to style than substance. Thatcherism is continuing but in a neo-Thatcherite way.     

Informal Traders and the Battlegrounds of Revanchism in Cusco,Peru

Informal trading in the global South, particularly in Latin America, is the subject of revanchist urban policy and yet few studies have examined the longer‐term impacts of such intolerant policies on traders. This article explores the evolution and impacts of revanchist policies directed at informal traders in the Andean city of Cusco. It makes two key contributions. First, it documents a shift from early revanchist policies to a post‐revanchist era where policies have become more tolerant of informal traders. However, contemporary policies fall short of a supportive environment for informal trading, hence the authors recommend changes that will ensure informal traders can access the city's streets and become an accepted part of the urban fabric. Second, given the lack of theoretical attention given to the impacts of revanchism, a battlegrounds framework is developed, consisting of spatial, political, economic and socio‐cultural battlegrounds. This framework provides a comprehensive insight into the complex set of interactions that exist between informal traders and the state. It is hoped that the framework will provide a tool for further research into the highly damaging impacts of revanchism across the globe.     

Exploring servant leadership across cultures: comparative study in Australia and Indonesia

Several problematic aspects of women's paid employment - e.g. low pay and lack of promotional opportunities - are exacerbated by the segregation of women and men into different occupations. In this article, the potential of in-store equal opportunities policies to break down such gender segregation will be explored, through consideration of the existence and implementation of these policies in twenty-two multinational retail companies in Dublin and Paris. It will be argued that, with one notable exception, the instore equal opportunities policies are effectively neutralized, and furthermore are neutralized in nationally specific ways which can be related to differences between France and Ireland in the organization of labour-market regulation and in women's labour-force participation (LFP). The case-study findings also suggest that the 'country' variable has a stronger effect on the existence and implementation of these policies than the extent of a shop's links to an overseas headquarters. The findings of this study have implications for both the equity of women's incorporation into the paid labour force and understanding of aspects of HRM in branches of multinational companies.     

Dynamics of group grievances from a global cohesion perspective

Grievances are vulnerable to state development and harmony; however, some factors provoke the masses and groups to vulnerability and state fragility (SF) by disturbing social cohesion. Under the grievance assumptions on the political process, this study has been designed to gauge the nexus of group grievances (GG), an essential parameter of social cohesion, institutional governance (IG), government legitimacy (GL), economic growth (EcG), and population growth (POPG) from the global perspective from 2008 to 2022 in a global panel of 158 countries considering the critical aspect of SF. The statistics reveal that PS is essential in controlling and managing the GG in the state. PS is the most significant factor in harmonizing the state's ethnic minorities, focus, and religious groups with stable policies and their grievances issues. It also states that apart from PS, another aspect of IG, Control of Corruption (CoC), helps mitigate malpractices and provides a transparent environment supporting grievances. It further demonstrates that EcG provokes grievances instead of lessening them among the key groups in the state, especially in the processing of industrialization. Because of the government's partiality to provide benefits to specific groups or sectors, that partiality and injustice hype the grievances among the public. Moreover, POPG is also a significant factor in increasing GG, along with government illegitimacy and untrust. The study concludes that to make the country agile and prosperous, the government should balance developing industrialization without compromising agricultural and domestic industries. It helps states gain public trust in the IG framework and GL. The government should harmonize its policies by tackling all minorities, ethnic, and religious groups coherently to maintain social cohesion in the country. Finally, One of the significant factors in natural resources and the scarcity of global resources is population. It stated that prudent population control measures better assist in resource scarcity and conflict management, such as in EU countries compared to Asia and Africa. Recent grievance movements in Brazil, China, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the US, are the practical application of this study because these countries fall in the list of the top 10 most populous countries. So, population control policies should be effectively implemented to support economic and social parity and mitigate GG.     

Understanding career experiences of skilled minority ethnic workers in France and Germany

Human resource management literature pays little attention to the agency of skilled ethnic minorities in Europe in terms of explaining their career choices and outcomes. As a step towards addressing this gap, we draw on two field studies based on qualitative interviews. One of these studies draws on interviews with 49 participants in France, and the other is based on interviews with 30 participants in Germany. Through a Bourdieuan analysis, we contribute to the human resource management literature, and demonstrate the varied forms that the agency of highly skilled ethnic minorities takes, in terms of their work experiences, in the context of structures of inequality in both countries.     

Assessment of the sustainable development of rural minority settlements based on multidimensional data and geographical detector method: A case study in Dehong,China

In a developing country, paying attention to the sustainable development of rural areas is conducive to the development of the entire country. Ethnic minority areas are an important part of China's economic and social development. Owing to a lack of relevant statistical data, most previous studies in this area have focused on the sustainable development of rural areas or the development of ethnic minorities, but have not studied the sustainable development of rural ethnic minorities. The development of rural ethnic minorities is worthy of attention. In this study, we took Dehong as the study area. First used toponyms to accurately identify the rural minority areas and then calculated a grid of settlement density. Second, we considered the digital number (DN) value of the visible infrared imaging radiometer suite (VIIRS) as a measure of the development of the region and digital elevation model (DEM), net primary productivity (NPP), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and gross domestic product (GDP) data as the indicators of terrain, climate, ecological, and economic factors, respectively. Finally, linear regression and the geographical detector method were used to determine the weight of the factors for constructing a sustainable development index (SDI) to quantitatively analyze the sustainable development and influencing factors of each minority nationality. The factors evaluated using linear regression and the geographical detector method were ranked as follows: NDVI > elevation > GDP > slope > NPP > settlement density. The results demonstrate that of the five main ethnic minorities in Dehong, Dai and Jingpo have higher SDI, followed by Achang, Lisu and De'ang. In addition, we provide some suggestions for ethnic minorities in Dehong.     

Ethnic capital and intergenerational transmission of educational attainment

This paper studies the role of ethnicity in the intergenerational transmission of educational attainment within the framework outlined by Borjas (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1992, 107(1), 123–150). Relying on heteroskedasticity to identify parameters in the presence of endogenous regressors, I find evidence that the ordinary least squares estimates of the effect of ethnic capital on intergenerational transmission of education are biased upwards due to the transfer of unobserved ability. I also find that, while the role of parental capital has declined over time, ethnic capital has a relatively constant effect on intergenerational transmission of educational attainment.     

Socio-economic impacts of migrant clustering on Dutch neighbourhoods: In search of optimal migrant diversity

The recent empirical literature on the impact of migrant clustering on socio-economic welfare indicators shows inconclusive and often even contradictory results. In this paper we argue that there is not an unambiguous empirical outcome of migrant or ethnic diversity, but that it depends on the level of migrant or ethnic composition itself. A low degree of socio-economic and cultural diversity may be beneficial for neighbourhoods, whereas an excessive degree of diversity may be harmful. We test this hypothesis by (i) constructing a migrant clustering index for all neighbourhoods in the Netherlands based on a gamma index; and, subsequently, (ii) incorporating it in a regression framework to assess three relevant socio-economic outcomes: neighbourhood income, number of students, and average housing value. We show that there is apparently an optimal level of migrant clustering, and that it is remarkably robust. For the Netherlands as a whole and for the ten largest Dutch cities as well, it is striking that largely similar effects were found. Our results suggest that population composition in neighbourhoods may vary up to about 40 per cent from the national average before migrant clustering generates negative effects.     

A quintessential immigrant niche? The non-case of immigrants in the Dutch construction industry

Students of immigrant entrepreneurship show a distinct preference for ethnic concentrations. They focus on small entrepreneurship in sectors with large concentrations of immigrant businesses or on ethnic commercial precincts. This preference stems from practical and theoretical considerations. It seems that the study of such concentrations, or niches, is essential to the theoretical understanding of the structural determinants of small entrepreneurship and the processes of economic incorporation of immigrants. This paper challenges this orthodoxy. It argues that it is important to assess the factors and processes that positively and negatively affect the formation of niches. This argument is corroborated by an analysis of the construction industry in the Netherlands. According to Waldinger (1995: 577), ‘construction represents the quintessential ethnic niche’, but immigrants in the Netherlands did not carve out a niche. This exceptional situation can be attributed to a sector-specific configuration of social, economic and institutional processes.     

How leaders shape the impact of HR's diversity practices on employee inclusion

In this paper we develop a theoretical framework about how leaders help shape the impact of HR diversity practices on employee inclusion. So far, the HR literature has given leaders a relatively passive role in that they are mainly seen as enactors and communicators of HR policies and practices. We expand this view by suggesting that leaders can respond to HR's (diversity) practices with various levels of alignment (or misalignment), and clarify the respective implications for felt inclusion. Informed by literature on multiple identities at work, we derive four potential responses of leaders to HR's diversity practices—deletion, compartmentalization, aggregation, and integration. We show how these responses shape the effects of diversity practices on employee inclusion, and in doing so, we also question a commonly held assumption that leaders' full alignment with HR's diversity practices is the most conducive for employees' felt inclusion. Our framework has important implications for theory and practice, as it specifies the role of leaders in leveraging the inclusive potential of HR diversity practices.     

Does Italy's plight threaten European Monetary Union?

The Italian economy is in a mess. GDP is expected to contract by 0.6% this year and the budget deficit is heading towards 4% of GDP – it is hard to see a way out of the mire. And after the rejection of the European constitution in France and the Netherlands, questions are being asked about the very future of the European project. With Italy fundamentally uncompetitive across a whole range of both price and non‐prices measures, and with an industrial structure ill‐equipped to deal with the challenges of globalisation, Italy's long‐term membership of the Euro is being debated. This article by Keith Church sets out Italy's problems and argues that, if the economy stagnates for a prolonged period, pressure to leave EMU will become irresistible. This can be avoided if the government finally implements structural reforms instead of continually ‘muddling through’. At the same time, the ECB needs to realise the urgency of the current situation and start to show greater flexibility.     

Does political propaganda matter in mitigating climate change? Insights from the United States of America

Some research on climate change has been the basis of climate change denialism (hereafter, CCD is used to refer to denial, denialism, and deniers). There is formative knowledge about the role of political propaganda in climate policies and resulting outcomes. To contribute to the understanding of political ideology and the extent of CCD, we adopt econometric techniques to study the impact of the United States of America's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. The results show that ideological political propaganda has psychological and philosophical consequences that impact climate change policies. In addition, we find that the effect of a state's economic growth on climate change is mediated by CCD. In particular, low-income capitalist states have a higher propensity to become CCDs because they are more likely to engage in economic expansion even at the expense of environmental sustainability. Global climate change policies depend on high-income nations and industries' willingness to adopt economic policies to achieve sustainable future development. Thus, this study fills the literature gap on the relationship between political ideology and climate change. The findings show that CCD significantly influences voting patterns and socioeconomic outcomes. It impedes states from achieving net-zero emissions and carbon neutrality and it is used as a political propaganda. Subject to these findings, relevant policy suggestions are offered.