Pang, Yuet Ngor (1993) Catering to employment needs : the occupations of young Chinese adults in Britain. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This study investigates the occupations of 16-30 year old
British Chinese. It is intended as a contribution to the
general literature on the Chinese in Britain, and to the
literature on occupational choice/entry into work in which
there have been no studies in Britain on this ethnic group.
The aims of this research are two-fold: first, to establish
the location of young Chinese adults in the British labour
market; and second, to establish why they are positioned at
their current level in the occupational structure. This
involved the testing of the hypothesis that a bimodal
distribution exists with young Chinese adults situated at
the top (in the professions) and the bottom sections (in the
service sector, specifically the Chinese catering industry)
in the British labour market. Structural and cultural
effects on the occupational attainments of these Chinese
were examined through the exploration of the influences of
family background, the role of education, and the impact of
racism and discrimination.
The method of data collection was by postal questionnaire,
which was distributed using a snowballing technique within a
social network. The primary data was analysed in
conjunction with secondary data (Labour Force Survey).
The initial hypothesis of a bimodal distribution was
corroborated by the primary data. The secondary data was
much less clear, although the underlying trend of the
greater propensity of the Chinese to enter the professions
or the catering industry (compared to white British, West
Indian, and Asian young adults) was demonstrated.
With regard to the three main variables explored, it was
concluded: (1) that class effects were less significant than
cultural effects as mediated through the family in
influencing the occupational attainments of the young
Chinese adults; (2) that the traditional cultural values and
attitudes of the Chinese towards education were responsible
for their (high) levels of educational attainment which the
Chinese used to gain access into the professions; (3) but
that the propensity of these Chinese to enter the
professions and ancilliary positions in the wider labour
market or conversely to enter the Chinese catering trade was
the result of a strategy adopted by the Chinese to deal with
the (real or perceived) structural constraints of racism and
discrimination in the British labour market.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Chinese -- Employment -- Great Britain, Young adults -- Employment -- Great Britain
Official Date:	July 1993
Dates:	Date Event July 1993 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Sociology
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Procter, Ian, 1947-
Sponsors:	Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC) ; University of Wisconsin—Madison
Extent:	ix, 282 leaves
Language:	eng

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