This article uses the concept of social capital to analyse data about Muslim jobseekers attempting to enter the Australian labour market. They often relied on their own social networks to find work rather than maximize the support of employment service providers. The study demonstrated the range of Muslim jobseekers and their social networks in an atmosphere of fear and intolerance. Three categories of Muslim jobseekers – from advantaged to disadvantaged – were identified. It is concluded that the most disadvantaged Muslim jobseekers can benefit greatly from increased support offered by employment service providers. Cet article présente une analyse des gens de confession musulmane qui cherchent à entrer sur le marché du travail en Australie. Nous avons observé que ces gens comptaient souvent sur leurs propres réseaux sociaux pour chercher un emploi et que quelquefois ils ne voulaient pas utiliser les services d’aide. Nos recherches décrivent en détail les expériences de ces demandeurs d’emploi. Il semble qu’il y ait un climat de peur et d’intolérance dans la société australienne qui pousse ces personnes à compter sur leurs propres ressources et réseaux, qui sont nécessairement limités. Nous avons identifié trois catégories de demandeurs d’emploi musulmans: les demandeurs les plus favorisés, les demandeurs avec quelques avantages, et les demandeurs les plus défavorisés. Nos recherches indiquent que les musulmans qui ne réussissent pas à trouver un emploi sont ceux qui sont les plus défavorisés dans la société. Ces derniers devraient obtenir un meilleur soutien des services d’aide à la recherche d’un emploi quand ils cherchent à entrer sur le marché du travail en Australie.
This paper attempts to show the emergence of a new ideological trend within the global field of resistance against the corporate-led globalization. This ideological trend, coined here the alter-globalization trend, is ideal-typically constructed in terms of its associated mode of social thought. The newly developed perspectives and cognitive transformations inside the global field of resistance convey a new mode of in-praxis thought, named here accommodative cognition. This heralds the formation of alternative principles for creating emancipatory knowledges and flexible solidarities. The paper draws on certain discursive evidence from the alter-globalization trend to show that the complexity of globalizing society and contemporary collective action is realized through the open spaces of dialogue and dispute introduced by the movement. This has resulted in the emergence of intellectual demands for transcending contradictions that are rooted in the post-1970s disputes between modernist and post-modernist, and materialist and post-materialist thoughts. Two other features of this new mode of cognition are: (1) a growing inclination to cut across incompatible conceptions of social polarities (i.e. around issues like class, gender, race, cultural identity, ethnicity, nationality and sexual orientation) in establishing a flexible solidarity based on accommodating the Other’s interest and identity into the process of affirming the Self; and (2) understanding the complexities of globalization in terms of its structural unevenness, contradictions and multidimensionality.
The experience of job market disadvantage is not a novel phenomenon for some in contemporary Australia, even in the face of embedded equal employment opportunity (EEO) ideals. This article addresses the phenomenon of persistent job market disadvantage for some minority groups by presenting new data from a major multi-method study on labor market obstacles for Muslims seeking jobs in Australia. Responses from jobseekers and employment service providers are analyzed together to consider how EEO principles are experienced by Muslims who engage with employment services and move in and out of the labor force. The article proposes that key EEO tenets-freedom from discrimination and support to overcome disadvantage-are not represented at present in many Muslim jobseeker experiences. Furthermore, these same EEO principles appear to be somewhat compromised in employment service provision to Muslim jobseekers and, by extension, to other disadvantaged minority jobseekers. We offer some suggestions as to how the spirit of EEO legislation might be better reflected in support of Muslim jobseekers. It is concluded that an all government approach may be needed to counter deep mistrust of Muslims in Australian society.
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