Collective Resource Mobilisation for Economic Survival within the Kurdish and Turkish Communities in London

Abstract

This paper proposes a new conceptual framework in understanding the dynamics within the Kurdish and Turkish (KT) owned firms in London by utilising Charles Tilly’s work concerning collective resource mobilisation. Drawing on 60 in-depth interviews with restaurant, off-licence, kebab-shop, coffee-shop, supermarket, wholesaler owners and various community organisations, the paper sheds light upon the questions of why and how the KT communities in London moved into, and are over represented and why Turkish Cypriots are absent in small business ownership. The re-search illustrates that members of the KT communities aligned in their interests to become small business owners after the demise of textile industry in the midst of 1990s in London. The interest alignment in small business ownership required activation of various forms of capital and transposition of social, cultural and economic capital into one another.

Labour Market Segmentation within Ethnic Economies: The Ethnic Penalty for Invisible Kurdish Migrants in the United Kingdom

“…This form of categorisation does not recognise differences in internal ethnicity and hides the specific characteristics of Kurds, making them a non-visible minority (Holgate et al, 2012). While a limited number of studies consider the labour market conditions of Kurdish migrants in the UK and their employment patterns within the ethnic economy (Atay, 2010; Holgate et al, 2012; Karan, 2017; Kesici, 2020; King et al, 2008; Sirkeci et al, 2016), the majority of the existing research addresses neither the segmentation within the ethnic economy nor the underprivileged position of Kurds within this economy from a comparative perspective. However, in the absence of adequate statistical data on the Kurds’ economic activities, this study adopts a comparative perspective, based primarily on qualitative research to illuminate the Kurds’ experiences in the labour market.…”

“…However, the ethnic economy can itself be considered as a field of sectors, ranging from primary to secondary in a multi-segmented labour market structure. The rewards of the ethnic economy’s primary sectors are relatively high in terms of earnings, conditions, working hours, job security, training opportunities and career prospects, while the rewards of the secondary sectors, which include many small shops, are low (for more information, see Karan, 2017; Kesici, 2015; Sirkeci et al, 2016). Within this ethnic economy, (un)employment, business ownership, income, informality, exploitation, working conditions and hours are used as segmentation indicators.…”

“…Kurds, mainland Turks and Turkish Cypriots have different histories of migration despite operating within the same ethnic economy (Karan, 2017; Kesici, 2020). Turkish Cypriots moved earliest to the UK due to their colonial ties, with intense migration starting in the 1950s (Strüder, 2003).…”