`A Darker Shade of Pale?' Whiteness, the Middle Classes and Multi-Ethnic Inner City Schooling

Abstract

Drawing on data from interviews with 63 London-based families, this article argues that there are difficult and uncomfortable issues around whiteness in multi-ethnic contexts. Even those parents, such as the ones in our sample, who actively choose ethnically diverse comprehensive schools appear to remain trapped in white privilege despite their political and moral sentiments. This is a complicated question of value; of having value, finding value in, getting value from, and adding value. Even those white middle classes committed to multi-ethnic schooling face the perils of middle-class acquisitiveness, extracting value from, as they find value in, their multi-ethnic `other'. In such processes of generating use and exchange value a majority of both the white working classes and the black working classes, those who are perceived not to share white middle-class values, are residualized and positioned as excessive. Symbolically, they come to represent the abject `other' of no value.

Parental choice and the rural primary school: Lifestyle, locality and loyalty

“…The qualitative research has therefore focussed on the types of resources parents have, such as the time and economic cost involved in choosing a school other than a local one or the ways in which some parents prioritise criteria such as school ethos above academic reputation (Reay et al, 2007). In explaining this situation many authors have found Bourdieu"s relational concepts of capital, habitus and field useful and we now go on to explain why these concepts are central to the framework for this study.…”

Corporate multiculturalism, diversity management, and positive interculturalism in Irish schools and society

“…From this vantage point, the relationship between those who do the embracing and those who are embraced is dependent on the selfperceived altruism or generosity of the 'host' (our perception that minority groups are indeed worthy of our generosity), and a corresponding supplication of minorities (Burchell 2001). This logic is premised on a partial or conditional acceptance (so long as they have something to offer us) which also produces unacceptable 'others' who have nothing to offer (Reay et al 2007). The power relationship implied in the logic of interculturalism, therefore, is such that those who are not seen to be making a contribution are implicitly positioned as being undeserving of this self-perceived generosity.…”

“…The power relationship implied in the logic of interculturalism, therefore, is such that those who are not seen to be making a contribution are implicitly positioned as being undeserving of this self-perceived generosity. From this perspective, the embracing of an acceptable ethnic 'other' via interculturalism is, in effect, an 'excluding inclusivity' (Reay et al 2007(Reay et al , 1054) which fails to disrupt, yet brilliantly disguises, power relationships between majoritised and minoritised groups in society.…”

“…The deployment of multiculturalism as a means of securing corporate success and competitive advantage within the context of a globalised economy that requires individuals who can interact easily and with confidence with people of 'other' ethnicities has been well documented (see Mitchell 1993;Reay et al 2007). The foregoing examples reveal the extent to which concerns about global competitiveness and productivity are central to influencing the particular version of interculturalism and anti-racism promulgated by the Irish state.…”

“…In this sense, exclusion and inequality are embedded within the very logic of interculturalism and anti-racism (Reay et al 2007) which positions minorities as deserving of the state's welcoming embrace, in so far as they economically and culturally benefit the nation and its inhabitants. It is a form of symbolic violence whereby the nationalistic, economic and political interests beneath the impressive rhetoric of celebrating diversity are mystified, and existing racialised power structures are reproduced.…”