De betekenis van generieke en etnisch-specifieke factoren bij de verklaring van achterstand van etnische minderheden

Samenvatting

One of the most hectic debates among Dutch ethnic minority researchers is on the significance of general and ethnic-specific factors for the explanation of social arrears of ethnic minorities. Dependent on the outcomes of their analyses, some researchers predict the coming of an ethnic under-class, while others claim that 'there is nothing particular happening to minority groups ` On this ground they reject specific policy measures for ethnic minorities. This article does not aim at deciding on such far-reaching consequences of research findings. Instead, it criticizes the outcomes themselves for being grounded on incorrect methods. Therefore, a recent article in Mens en Maatschappij is used as a starting point for discussing several methods which are being used in minority research. The main conclusions are (1) that, given the problem definition of ethnic minority research, methods in which separate models are estimated for different groups, are superior to methods in which 'overall' models are estimated, and (2) that even these superior methods are nor able to answer questions on the far-reaching consequences of social arrears of ethnic minority groups. For the time being, such questions appear to be losing some of their relevance, since ethnic minorities in the Netherlands increasingly show social diversity, which means that they increasingly resemble the native Dutch population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Mens en Maatschappij is the property of Amsterdam University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)