Ethnic minorities and industrial change in Europe and North America1992

Western industrial societies have undergone a massive transformation since the 1980s, and this is particularly noticeable in the older cities whose economies were based on labour intensive industry. In the period following World War II racial and ethnic minorities, who migrated from overseas or from the rural areas within the same country, formed a pool of low-paid labour upon which the prosperity of the industrial city depended. With the subsequent reorganisation of these economics, industrial production shifted overseas, while the new technological industries expanded locally, requiring fewer, and better skilled workers. The consequence for those seemingly excluded from the prosperity of the post-industrial age has been disastrous. In this collection of essays, edited by Malcolm Cross,...