Thread by @RunnymedeTrust

Conversations about the 'left-behind white working class' have made a return to the political scene in recent weeks. Below is a thread about Runnymede's recent work in this area and how pitting 'race' and class against one another serves nobody well /1

It is worth noting that this is not a race row and pitting children from different ethnic backgrounds against each other is highly damaging with regards to social cohesion, it ignores the large achievement gap among White British children from different socio-economic backgrounds

The current conception of the working class in the public debate is often based on a mixture of misinformation and mythology, fails to recognise working-class voices and agency, increases division across racial lines, and is divorced from the lived realities /2

of those experiencing race and class injustice. Working-class people are from every ethnic background, British born or migrants, are women as well as men, and live in every part of our country. We can and should build solidarity across such differences /3

Shared identity can emerge from shared conditions but also from shared values, shared history of past struggles, willingness to support each other, and a sense of pride in and belonging to local neighbourhoods. /4

We need a conception of the working class that doesn’t pitch working-class people against each other along
the lines of deserving/undeserving, white/BME, British/ migrants: such divides have justified policies that make all groups worse off. /5

Research on race and class prejudice and work on educational outcomes for BME students has found that:
- Positioning White working-class disadvantage as an ethnic disadvantage rather than as class disadvantage places this group in direct competition with minority ethnic groups/6

- It does very little to address the real and legitimate grievances poor White people in Britain have.The plight of these White children, is a class issue rather than a race issue
- Their discrimination takes place because of their class and not because of their skin colour /7

- All pupils who face class disadvantage, race disadvantage and class and race disadvantage, deserve the attention and support to improve their educational attainment.
- all pupils who face class disadvantage, race disadvantage and class and race disadvantage, deserve attention/8

..and support to improve their educational attainment.
- Isolating White children as being ‘left behind’ when evidence shows that children from other backgrounds are also ‘left behind’, is damaging to all left-behind children /9

- We must help counteract ‘White working- class’ interests being pitched against those of migrant/BME communities, which serve to justify policies that dehumanise BME and migrants communities without improving the conditions of anyone on a low income /10

Indeed, much of the debate surrounding the underachievement of White pupils is framed within the context of Free School Meals. As of 2016, the percentage of pupils eligible for FSMs stood at 13%. This ignores the context of the remaining 87% of school children /11

- When observing the statistics for all the other students, who are not ‘left behind white pupils’, it is Black Caribbean students who fare worst
- Indeed, 47% of Black Children, 54% Pakistani and 60% Bangladeshi live below the poverty line, compared to 23% of White children /12

Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Black Caribbean students of both sexes, and Black African males, are less likely to achieve success through the traditional gold-standard, higher value government benchmark than White British peers /13.

We must move away from pitting vulnerable communities against each other and rather formulate policies that help ALL 'left-behind' pupils /14.
#race #class #whiteworkingclass