Crime of apartheid The term apartheid, from Afrikaans for "apartness," was the official name of the South African system of racial segregation which existed after 1948. Complaints about the system were brought to the United Nations as early as 12 July 1948 when Dr. Padmanabha Pillai, the representative of India to the United Nations, circulated a letter to · CERD The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is a United Nations convention. A second-generation human rights instrument, the Convention commits its members to the elimination of racial discrimination and the promotion of understanding among all races. Controversially, the Convention also requires its · CEDAW The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women is an international convention adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly. Described as an international bill of rights for women, it came into force on 3 September 1981. The United States is the only developed nation that has not ratified the CEDAW. Several · CDE Convention against Discrimination in Education is a convention adopted by UNESCO in 1960 aiming to combat segregation and discrimination in the field of education. It has entered into force in 1962. There is an additional Protocol Instituting a Conciliation and Good offices Commission, adopted in 1962 and entering force in 1968. As of March, 2010, · ILO C111 Discrimination Convention, 1958 is an International Labour Organization Convention · ILO C100 Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 is an International Labour Organization Convention · Protocol No. 12 ECHR Protocol No. 12 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an anti-discrimination treaty of the Council of Europe. It was adopted on November 4, 2000, in Rome and entered into force on April 1, 2005, after tenth ratification. As of February, 2010, it has 17 member states and 20 signatories (from 47 CoE member

Adultcentrism CERD · CEDAW · CDE · ILO C111 · ILO C100 · ILO C169 · Protocol No. 12 ECHR · Androcentrism Androcentrism is the practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing male human beings or the masculine point of view at the center of one's view of the world and its culture and history. The related adjective is androcentric, while the opposite of androcentrism is gynocentrism · Anthropocentrism Anthropocentrism is a concept that human beings may regard themselves as the central and most significant entities in the universe, or that they assess reality through an exclusively human perspective. The term can be used interchangeably with humanocentrism, while the first concept can also be referred to as human supremacy. The views are · Colorism CERD · CEDAW · CDE · ILO C111 · ILO C100 · ILO C169 · Protocol No. 12 ECHR · Cronyism CERD · CEDAW · CDE · ILO C111 · ILO C100 · ILO C169 · Protocol No. 12 ECHR · Ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own. The ethnocentric individual will judge other groups relative to his or her own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behavior, customs, and religion · Economic · Genism CERD · CEDAW · CDE · ILO C111 · ILO C100 · ILO C169 · Protocol No. 12 ECHR · Gynocentrism Gynocentrism is a belief system whereby the perceptions, needs and desires of women have primacy. In this system, the female view is the reference point or lens through which matters are analysed Linguicism CERD · CEDAW · CDE · ILO C111 · ILO C100 · ILO C169 · Protocol No. 12 ECHR · Nepotism CERD · CEDAW · CDE · ILO C111 · ILO C100 · ILO C169 · Protocol No. 12 ECHR · Triumphalism Triumphalism is the attitude or belief that a particular doctrine, religion, culture, or social system is superior to and should triumph over all others. Triumphalism is not an articulated doctrine but rather a term that is used to characterize certain attitudes or belief systems by parties such as political commentators and historians

Bigotry CERD · CEDAW · CDE · ILO C111 · ILO C100 · ILO C169 · Protocol No. 12 ECHR · Diversity The term diversity is a form of euphemistic shorthand to describe differences in racial or ethnic classifications, age, gender, religion, philosophy, physical abilities, socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, gender identity, intelligence, mental health, physical health, genetic attributes, behavior, attractiveness, cultural values, or · Eugenics Eugenics is the study and practice of selective breeding applied to humans, with the aim of improving the species. In a historical and broader sense, eugenics can also be a study of "improving human genetic qualities." Advocates of eugenics sought to counter what they regarded as dysgenic dynamics within the human gene pool. Specifically, · Oppression Oppression is the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. It can also be defined as an act or instance of oppressing, the state of being oppressed, and the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, and anxiety Political correctness Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, disability, and age-related contexts. In current usage, the term is primarily pejorative, while the term politically incorrect has been · Prejudice A prejudice is a prejudgment: i.e. a preconceived belief, opinion, or judgment made without recourse to reason; drawing typically instead upon received information or upon instinctual preference. The word prejudice is most commonly used to refer to a preconceived judgment toward a people or a person because of race, social class, gender, ethnicity, Stereotype A stereotype is a commonly held public belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings. Stereotypes are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups based on some prior assumptions. Generally speaking, · Tolerance In social, cultural and religious contexts, toleration and tolerance are terms used to describe attitudes which are "tolerant" of practices or group memberships that may be disapproved of by those in the majority. In practice, "tolerance" indicates support for practices that prohibit ethnic and religious discrimination

Economic discrimination is a term that describes a form of discrimination based on economic factors. These factors can include job availability, wages, the prices and/or availability of goods and services In economics, economic output is divided into physical goods and intangible services. Consumption of goods and services is assumed to produce utility. It is often used when referring to a Goods and Services Tax, and the amount of capital investment Investment is the commitment of money or capital to purchase financial instruments or other assets in order to gain profitable returns in form of interest, income, or appreciation of the value of the instrument. It is related to saving or deferring consumption. Investment is involved in many areas of the economy, such as business management and funding available to minorities for business. The term is broadly used in economic research, and includes discrimination against workers, consumers, and minority-owned businesses.

It is not the same as price discrimination Price discrimination or price differentiation exists when sales of identical goods or services are transacted at different prices from the same provider. In a theoretical market with perfect information, perfect substitutes, and no transaction costs or prohibition on secondary exchange to prevent arbitrage, price discrimination can only be a, the practice by which monopolists In economics, a monopoly (from Greek monos / μονος + polein / πωλειν (to sell)) exists when a specific individual or an enterprise has sufficient control over a particular product or service to determine significantly the terms on which other individuals shall have access to it. (This is in contrast to a monopsony which relates to a (and to a lesser extent oligopolists In Economics, an oligopoly is a market form in which a market or industry is dominated by a small number of sellers . The word is derived, by analogy with "monopoly", from the Greek ὀλίγοι (oligoi) "few" + πωλειν (polein) "to sell". Because there are few sellers, each oligopolist is likely to be aware of and monopolistic competitors Monopolistic competition is a form of imperfect competition where many competing producers sell products that are differentiated from one another . In monopolistic competition firms can behave like monopolies in the short-run, including using market power to generate profit. In the long-run, other firms enter the market and the benefits of) charge different buyers different prices based on their willingness to pay In economics, the willingness to pay is the maximum amount a person would be willing to pay, sacrifice or exchange for a good.

History

The term economic discrimination has been in usage for over 150 years, but its meaning has changed significantly since it was coined. The term was first used in British The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land law Law is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. Laws can shape or reflect politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets. Property law defines rights and, specifically the British Railway Clauses Consolidation Act of 1845, which prohibited a common carrier A common carrier in common-law countries is a person or company that transports goods or people for any person or company and that is responsible for any possible loss of the goods during transport. A common carrier offers its services to the general public under license or authority provided by a regulatory body. The regulatory body has usually from charging one person more for carrying freight Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport than was charged to another customer for the same service. In 19th century English and American common law Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals , rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action. A "common law system" is a legal system that gives great precedential weight to common law, on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different, discrimination was meant to indicate improper distinctions in economic transactions. For example, discrimination occurred if a hotelier refused to give rooms to a patron, or the distinction indicated by the British Railway Clauses. Most 19th century economic discrimination was by Protestants Protestantism is one of the four major divisions within Christianity together with the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Roman Catholic Church. The term is most closely tied to those groups that separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation against Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with more than a billion members. Its leader is the Pope who holds supreme authority in concert with the College of Bishops of which he is the head. A communion of the Western church and 22 Eastern Catholic churches, it comprised a total of 2,795, or by Christians A Christian (pronounced /ˈkrɪstʃən/ ) is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe is the Messiah (the Christ in Greek-derived terminology) prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, and the son of God. Most Christians believe in the doctrine of against Jews The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation. Converts to Judaism, whose status as Jews within the Jewish ethnos, and usually could be referred to as economic discrimination against consumers.

By the early 20th century, discrimination also included biased or unequal terms against other companies or competing companies. The Robinson-Patman Act The Robinson-Patman Act of 1936 (or Anti-Price Discrimination Act, Pub. L. No. 74-692, 49 Stat. 1526 ) is a United States federal law that prohibits what were considered, at the time of passage, to be anticompetitive practices by producers, specifically price discrimination. It grew out of practices in which chain stores were allowed to purchase (1936), which prevents sellers of commodities in interstate commerce The Commerce Clause is an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution . The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes". Courts and commentators have tended to discuss each of these three areas of from discriminating in price between purchasers of goods of like grade and quality, was designed to prevent vertically integrated In microeconomics and management, the term vertical integration describes a style of management control. Vertically integrated companies in a supply chain are united through a common owner. Usually each member of the supply chain produces a different product or service, and the products combine to satisfy a common need. It is contrasted with trusts from driving smaller competitors out of the market through economies of scale In economics, returns to scale and economies of scale are related terms that describe what happens as the scale of production increases. They are different terms and should not be used interchangeably.

It was not until 1941, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war. The only American president elected to more than two terms (he was elected to four but only served three full terms, dying in his issued an executive order An executive order in the United States is an order issued by the President, the head of the executive branch of the federal government. In other countries, similar edicts may be known as decrees, or orders-in-council. Executive orders may also be issued at the state level by a state's Governor or at the local level by the city's Mayor. U.S forbidding discrimination in employment by a company working under a government defense contract, that economic discrimination took on the overtones it has today, which is discrimination against minorities. By 1960 anti-trust Competition law, known in the United States as antitrust law, are laws that promote or maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct laws and interstate commerce laws had effectively regulated inter-corporate discrimination so problematic in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but the problem of discrimination on an economic basis against minorities had become widespread.

Causes

There is a wide range of theory concerned with the root causes of economic discrimination. Economic discrimination is unique from most other kinds of discrimination because only a small portion of it is due to racism, but rather is due to what has been called a "cynical realization that minorities are not always your best customers".^[1] There are three main causes that most economic theorists agree are likely root causes.

Animosity

Racism, sexism, ageism, and dislike for another's religion, ethnicity or nationality has always been a component of economic discrimination, much like all other forms of discrimination.

Most discrimination in the US and Europe is claimed to be in terms of racial and ethnic discrimination -- blacks and Hispanics in the USA, Muslims in Europe. In most parts of the world, women are held to lower positions, lower pay, and restricted opportunities of land ownership or economic incentive to enter businesses or start them.^[2]

This form of economic discrimination is usually leveled at whatever groups are held to be "in power" at the time. For example, in America, discrimination is often considered to be the province of Caucasians, while in Saudi Arabia, it's men who are considered discriminatory. One study suggests that the increase in equal opportunity lawsuits has reduced this kind of discrimination in America by a large amount.^[3]

Cost/revenue

There is a certain opportunity cost in dealing with some minorities, particularly in highly divided nations or nations where discrimination is tolerated. In fundamentalist Islamic societies, some adherents of sharia law feel it's inappropriate for women to work. Companies that employ them might lose the business of offended men, or might suffer boycotts or even violence from extremists.

A second common reason for this kind of discrimination is when the worker or consumer is not cost-efficient. For example, some stores in the US Northwest do not stock ethnic foods, despite requests for such, since they feel the cost is too high for too low a return.

Additionally, the illegal immigration debate in the US has resulted in some businesses refusing to hire such workers based on the likelihood that they would be fined and litigated against.

Efficiency

In some cases, minorities are discriminated against simply because it is inefficient to make a concerted effort at a fair allocation. For example, in countries where minorities make up a very small part of the population, or are on average less educated than the population average, there is rarely an attempt to focus on employment of minorities.

The Equal Opportunity Employment act in the US has almost reduced this sort of rationale for discrimination to nothing, according to recent studies.^[4]

Forms of economic discrimination

There are several forms of economic discrimination. The most common form of discrimination is wage inequality, followed by unequal hiring practices. But there is also discrimination against minority consumers and minority businesses in a number of areas, and religious or ethnic discrimination in countries outside of the United States.^[5]

Against workers

Most forms of discrimination against minorities involve lower wages and unequal hiring practices.

Wage discrimination

Several studies^[6] have shown that several minority groups, including Black men and women, Hispanic men and women, and white women, suffer from decreased wage earning for the same job with the same performance levels and responsibilities as white males. Numbers vary wildly from study to study, but most indicate a gap from 5 to 15% lower earnings on average, between a white male worker and a black or Hispanic man or a woman of any race with equivalent educational background and qualifications.

A recent study^[2] indicated that black wages in the US have fluctuated between 70% and 80% of white wages for the entire period from 1954–1999, and that wage increases for that period of time for blacks and white women increased at half the rate of that of white males. Other studies^[3] show similar patterns for Hispanics. Studies involving women found similar or even worse rates.^[7]

Overseas, another study indicated that Muslims earned almost 25% less on average than whites in France, Germany, and England, while in South America, mixed-race blacks earned half of what Hispanics did in Brazil.^[8]

Most wage discrimination is masked by the fact that it tends to occur in lower-paying positions and involves minorities who may not feel empowered to file a discrimination lawsuit or complain.

Hiring discrimination

Hiring discrimination is similar to wage discrimination in its pattern. It typically consists of employers choosing to hire a white candidate over a minority candidate, or a male candidate over a female candidate, to fill a position. A study of employment patterns in the US indicated^[4]that the number of hiring discrimination cases has increased fivefold in the past 20 years. However, their percentage as a whole fraction of the workforce hirings has decreased almost as drastically. With the stiff laws against discrimination in hiring, companies are very careful in who they hire and do not hire.

Even so, studies^[4] have shown that it is easier for a white male to get a job than it is for an equally qualified man of color or woman of any race. Many positions are cycled, where a company fills a position with a worker and then lays them off and hires a new person, repeating until they find someone they feel is "suitable" -- which is often not a minority.^[7]

While hiring discrimination is the most highly visible aspect of economic discrimination, it is often the most uncommon. Increasingly strong measures against discrimination have made hiring discrimination much more difficult for employers to engage in. However this is only the case in formal hiring arrangements, with corporations or others subject to public scrutiny and overview. Private hiring, such as apprenticeships of electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and other trades is almost entirely broken down along racial lines, with almost no women in these fields and most minorities training those of their own race.

Against consumers

Most discrimination against consumers has been decreased due to stiffer laws against such practices, but still continues, both in the US and in Europe. The most common forms of such discrimination are price and service discrimination.

Discrimination based on price

Discrimination based on price is charging different prices for goods and services to different people based on their race, ethnicity, religion, or sex. It should not be confused with the separate economic concept of price discrimination. This includes but is not limited to:

• increased costs for basic services (health care, repair, etc)
• increased costs for per diem charges (such as charging one person $40 while charging another person $100 for the exact same service provided)^[9]
• not offering deals, sales, rebates, etc to minorities
• higher rates for insurance for minorities

Most charges of price discrimination are difficult to verify, without significant documentation. Studies indicate that less than 10% of all price discrimination is actually reported to any authority or regulatory body, and much of this is through class-action lawsuits.^[9] Furthermore, while a number of monitoring services and consumer interest groups take an interest in this form of discrimination, there is very little they can do to change it. Most discrimination based on price occurs in situations without a standardized price list that can be compared against. In the cases of per diem charges, this is easily concealed as few consumers can exchange estimates and work rates, and even if they do the business in question can claim that the services provided had different baseline costs, conditions, etc.

Discrimination based on price in areas where special sales and deals simply are not offered can be justified by limiting them to those with strong credit ratings or those with past business with the company in question.

Services discrimination

Although price discrimination mentions services, service discrimination is when certain services are not offered at all to minorities, or are offered only inferior versions. According to at least one study,^[10] most consumer discrimination falls into this category, since it is more difficult to verify and prove. Some assertions of discrimination have included:

• offering only high-cost plans for insurance or refusal to cover minorities
• refusing to offer financing to minorities
• denial of service

Against businesses

Minority owned businesses can also experience discrimination, both from suppliers and from banks and other sources of capital financing. In the US, there are tax benefits and even public relations benefits from having minority-owned businesses, so most instances of this occur outside of the United States.^[11]

Women of color are starting businesses at rates three to five times faster than all other businesses, according to an article from Babson college on Newswise. (May 9, 2008). "State of Businesses Owned by Women of Color". Press release. http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/540601/. Retrieved 2008-05-12. However, once in business, their growth lags behind all other firms, according to the results of a multi-year study conducted by the Center for Women's Business Research in partnership with Babson College exploring the impact of race and gender on the growth of businesses owned by women who are African-American, Asian, Latina and other ethnicities.

Discrete usage discrimination

This form of discrimination covers suppliers providing substandard goods to a business, or price gouging the business on purchases and resupply orders.

Capital investment discrimination

A more significant source of perceived discrimination is in capital investment markets. Banks are often accused of not providing loans and other financial instruments for inner-city minority owned businesses.^[11] Most research indicates that the banking industry as a whole is systemic in its abuse of the legal system in avoidance of "high risk" loans to minorities, pointing out that banks cannot provide actual facts backing up their assertions that they deny such loans to a high failure rate.^[1]

On the other hand, most financial institutions and some economists feel that all too often, banks are accused unfairly of discrimination against minority owned businesses when said business is simply not worth such a credit risk, and that no one would find such a decision discriminatory if the business were not minority owned. These charges of reverse racism or prejudicial analysis are a longstanding source of controversy in the study of economic discrimination.^[12]

Global economic discrimination

An increasing number of economists and international commerce theorists have suggested that economic discrimination goes far beyond the bounds of individuals or businesses. The largest scale forms of economic discrimination, and the widest ranging, affect entire nations or global regions. Many consider that an open world economic system (globalization), which includes world bodies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), places countries at risk by practicing explicitly discriminatory techniques such as bilateral and regional bargaining, as well as asymmetrical trade balances and the maintaining of cheap force labor. Trade policies like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) are often regarded as financial measures serving only to economically oppress third world nations.^[13]

This could include:

• Unfavorable terms for monetary support from world banking institutions
• Coercive diplomacy to supplant local, regional or national leaders in favor of those who will act as demanded by foreign investors^[14]
• Increased prices for suppling basic medical supplies to nations based on ethnic or religious basis
• Refusal of trade agreements
• Restrictive trade agreements

See also

• Statistical discrimination

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Siegelman, P. (1994). Shaky grounds: The case against the case against anti-discrimination laws. Law and Social Inquiry, 19, 725-751.
2. ^ ^{a b} Donohue, J. J. III, & Siegelman, P. (1991). The changing nature of employment discrimination litigation. Stanford Law Review, 43, 983-1033.
3. ^ ^{a b} Donohue, J. J. III, & Siegelman. P. (1993). Law and macroeconomics: Employment discrimination litigation over the business cycle. Southern California Law Review, 66, 709-765.
4. ^ ^{a b c} Donohue, J. J. III, & Heckman, J. (1991). Continuous versus episodic change: The impact of civil rights policy on the economic status of blacks. Journal of Economic Literature, 29, 1603–1643.
5. ^ A seminal microeconomic analysis of the subject is Gary Becker's book The Economics of Discrimination (1957, 1971, 2nd ed.). Chicago, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-04115-8 UCP descr
6. ^ Cain, G. G. (1986). The economic analysis of labor market discrimination: A survey. In O. Ashenfelter & R. Layard (Eds.), Handbook of Labor Economics, Volume I (pp. 693-709). Elsevier Science Publishers. Pp. 731-771
7. ^ ^{a b} Nelson, R. L., & Bridges, W. P. (1999). Legalizing gender inequality: Courts, markets, and unequal pay for women in the United States. New York: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 2
8. ^ Arnsperger, Christian. Poverty and human rights: The issue of systemic economic discrimination and some concrete proposals for reform. International Social Science Journal 56 (180), 289-299.
9. ^ ^{a b} Ayres, I. (1991). Fair driving: Gender and race discrimination in retail car negotiations. Harvard Law Review , 104, 817-872.
10. ^ Ayres, I. (1993). Not on the menu: studies in consumer discrimination and recent law. Harvard Law Review , 122, 419-442.
11. ^ ^{a b} Posner, R. A. (1995). Economic analysis of law. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. Pp. 336-340
12. ^ Donohue, J. J. III. (1992). Advocacy of economic instruments versus analysis in favor of 'fair-use' financing in discrimination law. Stanford Law Review, 41, 1235. Pp. 153-214
13. ^ Kenneth A. Oye. Economic Discrimination and Political Exchange:World Political Economy. ISBN 0-691-00083-2
14. ^ Robert Tolleson, Thomas Willet. An Economic Theory of Issue Linkages in International Negotiations. International Organization 34, pgs 44-50

External links

• State of Businesses Owned by Women of Color
• US State Department report on Philippine ED
• ED in Britain against Turks
• Examples of ED

Categories: Microeconomics | Labor economics | Discrimination

See Also:

• Discrimination
• Discriminatory: Encyclopedia
• Discrimination: Encyclopedia
• Portal:Discrimination: Encyclopedia
• Genetic Discrimination: Encyclopedia

What Links Here:

Recently Viewed Pages:

• Sitemap.xml
• Blogs
• Home
• Quotes
• Sitemap
• Homophobia: Encyclopedia
• Encyclopedia
• Ethnocentrism: Encyclopedia
• Sinocentrism: Encyclopedia
• Homophobia: Encyclopedia

Most Popular Pages:

• Blogs
• Quotes
• Sitemap.xml
• Images
• Encyclopedia
• Economic Discrimination: Web Search
• Domain Details
• Shopping
• Dictionary
• Homophobia: Images

Related 'Economic Discrimination' Searches: