A Multidimensional Analysis of Racism and Social Immobility at the Societal Level

Introduction

Two of the most profound sources of exclusion in current-day societies are people’s ethnic and social origins. The main goal of MARIS is to examine the interlinked patterns of different dimensions of racism and intergenerational social immobility at the level of societies.

Understanding Racism

Racism refers to the historically grown beliefs and practices that systematically disadvantage some ethno-racial groups. It has been conceptualized and measured by different research traditions, which each focus on another aspect of racism.

Intergenerational Social Immobility

Intergenerational social immobility refers to the transmission of parents’ socioeconomic positions to those of their children. There are different traditions to examine these positions as well.

The Gap in Research

What both racism and social mobility research have in common is that there is little interdisciplinary integration of their dimensions. This is a serious gap because each approach only covers a specific aspect and often yields different answers to basic research questions.

Theoretical and Empirical Integration

Therefore, MARIS starts with a theoretical and empirical integration of four dimensions of racism at the macro-level:

1. Discriminatory behaviour
2. Perceived discrimination
3. Explicit attitudes
4. Implicit bias

The macro-approach will consolidate the recent macro-social turn in racism research and opens a new paradigm of research questions.

Dimensions of Social Mobility

In the same vein, I also integrate four dimensions of social mobility:

1. Social class
2. Status
3. Income
4. Education

Examining Interlinked Patterns

In the next step, MARIS examines the interlinked patterns of racism and social mobility at the macro-level. While racism and immobility are intertwined in people’s lives, I can theoretically expect four possible combinations of both sources of exclusion. Previous studies tend to examine them separately.

Bridging Research Fields

By combining both, this project bridges two long-standing research fields within the social and economic sciences.

Analysis of Variability

Lastly, I analyse varying levels in racism and mobility across countries and time by their links with macro-policies and recessions.