Discuss How the Concepts of ‘Race’ and ‘Ethnicity’ Perpetuate Inequality in Australia Essay Example
‘As concepts, race and nation are largely empty receptacles through and in the names of which population groups may be invented, interpreted and imagined as communities or societies’ (Goldberg, 1993: 79). Race and ethnicity are major contributing factors of racism in Australia today, and the continued racist beliefs of many Australians are the driving forces of inequality in modern Australian society. To truly understand how this occurs one first needs to understand the forms and effects of racism.
The modern history of Australia begins with British colonisation in 1788, and reveals many racist practises towards both immigrants and the native population. Until recently, many white Australians shared the belief that ‘civilisation did not begin in Australia until the last quarter of the eighteenth century’ (Manning Clarke, 1962: 3). Through the spread of disease, killings and sexual exploitation, the Aboriginal population was drastically reduced and did not begin to recover until the late 1940’s. To add insult to injury, government policy in the 1960’s produced the ‘stolen generation’, where, for the ‘common good’, Aboriginal children were removed from their families and placed with white foster families. This racist ideology was formalised in 1901 with the introduction of the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, more commonly known as the ‘White Australia’ policy, which excluded ‘Asians’ and ‘coloureds’ from Australian immigration.
From the beginning of modern Australia, ideals of racial and ethnic superiority have shaped laws and popular opinions, as well as media representation of migrants and ‘Australians’. Continued division between ‘white’ Australians and Aboriginals, Muslim-Australians and Non-English Speaking Background (NESB) Australians stem from early misconceptions and continued misinformation in a so-called ‘multicultural’ Australia. ‘[Races] are said to be distinctive because members of those races allegedly share certain natural or biological
The modern history of Australia begins with British colonisation in 1788, and reveals many racist practises towards both immigrants and the native population. Until recently, many white Australians shared the belief that ‘civilisation did not begin in Australia until the last quarter of the eighteenth century’ (Manning Clarke, 1962: 3). Through the spread of disease, killings and sexual exploitation, the Aboriginal population was drastically reduced and did not begin to recover until the late 1940’s. To add insult to injury, government policy in the 1960’s produced the ‘stolen generation’, where, for the ‘common good’, Aboriginal children were removed from their families and placed with white foster families. This racist ideology was formalised in 1901 with the introduction of the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, more commonly known as the ‘White Australia’ policy, which excluded ‘Asians’ and ‘coloureds’ from Australian immigration.
From the beginning of modern Australia, ideals of racial and ethnic superiority have shaped laws and popular opinions, as well as media representation of migrants and ‘Australians’. Continued division between ‘white’ Australians and Aboriginals, Muslim-Australians and Non-English Speaking Background (NESB) Australians stem from early misconceptions and continued misinformation in a so-called ‘multicultural’ Australia. ‘[Races] are said to be distinctive because members of those races allegedly share certain natural or biological