¿How Fair is Britain?

I study Sociology since 2007 and, for me, the most important topic are the social inequalities. That's the reason for why sociologist write about power, domination, authority, legitimacy etc.

I found in http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/oct/11/equality-report-race-britain-launch?intcmp=239, an interesting article about ¿How fair is Britain?. It is new for me review articles with a sociological background of a european country, because I ussualy read about Latin America or specifically of Chile.

The social reality in those countries (european) it is completly different of our continent. For example, the inequialities are not the division rich/poor but european/foreigner. Also that categories have implicit power relations who influence the different kinds of social relations. In Chile we have that phenomenon with peruvian people. They are sistematicly marginalized of the social activities, for example, they are relegated to informal jobs.

In britain, "the commission's first three-year review, How Fair is Britain, shows that while some inequalities remain entrenched, new challenges are emerging as the country's population becomes older and more ethnically and religiously diverse".

The high rate of immigration seems to be a problem for British society. Dispite of good news like, "in education the Chinese and Indian people are streaking ahead at school", there are evidences to suggest that discrimination in the recruitment process keeps them out of jobs, specifically for Pakistani men who has to be self-employments ( a quarter of men of Pakistani descent drive for a living – mostly in a taxi cab).

The commission does say that Britain is a largely "tolerant and open-minded society", which has become more socially liberal in recent decades. In that sense, the article says that Britain is living the "immigration paradox": three-quarters of Britons say that they are concerned about the scale of immigration at a national level – about the same proportion feels that immigration is not a problem for their own communities".

Finally, a spokeman for the government say that ""When people are treated fairly, everyone in society benefits. That's why this government is committed to tackling all forms of inequality and discrimination"...

¡we are waiting that these words are not being the typical statements of good intentions of politicians!