Middleman Minorities Research Articles

Racial Rage, Racial Guilt: The Uses of Anger in Asian America

ABSTRACT Asian Americans are conventionally described as “middle-man minorities,” outside of dominant racial paradigms of White and Black, adjunct to White privilege and exempt from the brunt of systemic violence directed against Black people. Historical accounts of the in-betweenness of Asian Americans trace their origins to how Asian coolie labor has served to triangulate White capital and African slavery over the course of European modernity. If this is the material history of in-betweenness, what is the psychic corollary of the middle-man thesis? Through an analysis of the Netflix dark comedy series Beef, as well as case histories of Asian American patients and students, we argue that the psychic effects of occupying a racially intermediate position implicate an unexplored terrain of racial rage and racial guilt that Asian Americans are insistently socialized to hold on behalf of others.

Middleman Minority Nation: A New Conceptualisation of the State in Singapore

ABSTRACT The Singaporean state is often conceptualised as neoliberal, but I argue that this conceptualisation is mistaken. While Singapore embraces the neoliberal ‘all you have is yourself’ ethos, I contend, the state does not apply this ethos to individuals and families, but to society as a whole: to the relation between Singapore and ‘the world’, rather than to the domestic realm within Singapore. That is, Singapore is a communalist and not an individualist society – a society in which the group is paramount, and in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals are subordinated to group interests. I introduce the term ‘middleman minority state’ (MM state) to capture this social phenomenon, whereby the state scales up the tactics of the classic middleman minority to the level of a small nation-state. I argue that the uniqueness of Singapore as a polity is not fully reflected in 20th-century economists’ views on society and economics, which provide only a partial map of Singapore. Instead, we must look to Singapore’s history as a centre for middleman minorities, whose values and behaviour patterns were transformed into a successful state strategy as the country became an independent nation-state in the 1960s.

Indian South Africans as a middleman minority: Historical and contemporary perspectives

Beginning in the 1940s, a literature on middleman minorities emerged to demystify the intermediary economic niche that Jews had occupied in medieval Europe. They were viewed as ethnic entrepreneurs occupying the economic status gap. In the 1960s, scholars began to apply middleman minority theory to colonial societies and to American society. More recently, Coloureds in South Africa have been identified as a middleman minority of another type: semi-privileged proletarians occupying an economic status gap in labour between whites and Africans. A political status gap between whites and Africans, both seeking alliances to achieve hegemony, is also occupied by Coloureds. Among South African Indians, one finds ethnic entrepreneurs: a small shopkeeping and trading class from South Asia. But there are also Indian semi-privileged proletarians who emerged from the indentured labour population in the early twentieth century. This article employs a historical institutional approach to analyse political tensions among Indians, and examines the cleavage between Indians and other races over political rights vis-a-vis the South African state. It also offers a typology contrasting ethnic entrepreneurs with semi-privileged proletarians in terms of the differing economic status gaps they occupy. Furthermore, it illustrates how Indians occupy a political status gap in a complex settler colonial society like South Africa.

Queering Chinese Crossings in Late Twentieth Century Jamaica: Larry Chang and the Gay Freedom Movement

This essay examines the relationship between Chinese racialization and queer formation in post-independence Jamaica. Alongside its international reputation for black empowerment and homophobic exceptionalism in the late twentieth century, Jamaica also becomes home to the anglophone Caribbean’s first gay activist organization, the Gay Freedom Movement (GFM), led by Chinese-Jamaican General Secretary Larry Chang. Focusing on Chang’s life and work, this essay analyzes the relationship between Chinese-ness and local and international iterations of Jamaican gay activism. Drawing on archival research and oral history interviews, I argue that Chinese-ness was key to Chang’s politics of crossing in which he wrote as different characters in GFM’s newsletter to represent and recruit across the lines of race, class, gender, and nation in support of a broad-based gay social movement. This strategic mobilization of Chinese-ness in the service of erotic autonomy queers the racial logic that positions Chinese diasporans as “middleman minorities” in their multiracial host societies.

Entrepreneurial Opportunities of Refugees in Germany, France, and Ireland: Multiple Embeddedness Framework

Recently, the entrepreneurial potential of refugees has received growing attention from scholars and policymakers. However, the literature on refugee entrepreneurship suffers from the fragmentation of previous research findings, which has been mainly attributed to the fact that refugees have heterogeneous backgrounds. Tackling this challenge, this study conceptualized the framework for the multiple embeddedness of refugee entrepreneurs by applying and extending the concept of mixed embeddedness. Based on 50 semi-structured interviews with refugee entrepreneurs who relocated to Germany, France, and Ireland, we identified six patterns in which refugees’ multiple embeddedness and their actions as entrepreneurial agencies interacted to develop entrepreneurial opportunities: (i) value creation with homeland resources, (ii) acting as transnational middleman minorities, (iii) integration facilitation, (iv) qualification transfers, (v) homeland-problem solving, and (vi) creative innovation. This study contributes to the literature on refugee entrepreneurship by considering multiple contexts in which refugees can be embedded in and by elaborating on the interactions between opportunity structure emerging within the multiple embeddedness, actions, and capabilities of refugees as entrepreneurial agencies.

Middleman Minorities and Ethnic Violence: Anti-Jewish Pogroms in the Russian Empire

AbstractUsing detailed panel data from the Pale of Settlement area between 1800 and 1927, we document that anti-Jewish pogroms—mob violence against the Jewish minority—broke out when economic shocks coincided with political turmoil. When this happened, pogroms primarily occurred in places where Jews dominated middleman occupations, i.e., moneylending and grain trading. This evidence is inconsistent with the scapegoating hypothesis, according to which Jews were blamed for all misfortunes of the majority. Instead, the evidence is consistent with the politico-economic mechanism, in which Jewish middlemen served as providers of insurance against economic shocks to peasants and urban grain buyers in a relationship based on repeated interactions. When economic shocks occurred in times of political stability, rolling over or forgiving debts was an equilibrium outcome because both sides valued their future relationship. In contrast, during political turmoil, debtors could not commit to paying in the future, and consequently, moneylenders and grain traders had to demand immediate (re)payment. This led to ethnic violence, in which the break in the relationship between the majority and Jewish middlemen was the igniting factor.

The politics of 2011 riots in North London: How riots did not culminate into inter-ethnic conflict?

While there has been a considerable research study into the causes and consequences of the 2011 riots and rioters' composition in terms of their class, ethnic origin and gender, there is much less on the shop-keepers perspectives on the August, 2011 riots in London. One of the consequence of this under-research area is little is known about how riots affect relationships between communities in multi-ethnic London. Based on forty interviews conducted with Kurdish and Turkish (KT) shop-owners and key persons from community organizations in North London, the findings of this study state that the theory of middleman minorities does not provide conceptual insight to explain the events. Rather, utilization of theory of framing sheds light upon the perceptions and actions of migrants from Turkey and inter-ethnic relationships in North London. This article argues that KT shopkeepers, community organizations and rioters managed to generate a shared consciousness during face-to-face encounters on the streets. The conscious efforts of shopkeepers and rioters constructed an interest alignment against government policy for cutting social programmes, economic deprivation, and police misconduct. To this end, members of ethnic groups prevented inter-ethnic conflict.

Are We All Feminists? The Global Black Hair Industry and Marketplace in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah

Abstract The politically voiceless, economically visible, and racially indeterminate middleman minority status as noted by sociologists Edna Bonacich and Pyong Gap Min hardly comes to mind when scholars envision women of Africa and the African Diaspora. Still, when considering the ways the global black hair industry acts as a mechanism for work, production, value, agency, and mobility, we would be remiss if we did not include a discourse on the black hair industry, for it alternately critiques, challenges, and participates in binary conceptions of race, socioeconomic class, and citizenship. Further, while the traditional concept of the middleman minority subsumes the female identity under that of the male head of the family, the global black hair industry—largely established, fueled, and energized by black and African women—centralizes the female. Like many industries with a commanding economic force, black hair as an industry acts both within and without the bounds of the patriarchal state, macrocosmically, and the male head of the patriarchal family, microcosmically. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novel Americanah, while concerned with her protagonist's mediation of the “Americanah” identity—the repatriated immigrant “with odd affectations, pretending to no longer know” home (2013a, 78)—also presents a unique observation of the ways that black hair and its commerce are also attendant, if not central, to notions of feminist ideology, both African and Western, advocated by Adichie in her feminist treatise “We Should All Be Feminists” (2013b). This paper seeks to illuminate the questions that Adichie raises in Americanah regarding the centrality and alterity of women, who, like traditional middleman minorities, act as consumers and producers within a market that is deeply entrenched in the racial, political, and economic framework of the larger patriarchal society, while also operating with a great deal of autonomy.

Immigrant Retail Entrepreneurship and Urban Black Population Size in the Late Nineteenth-Century United States

ABSTRACTBuilding on the idea that immigrant merchants often operate in black consumer markets, this study tests the hypothesis that late nineteenth-century European immigrants’ highest odds of retail enterprise in the United States were in cities with the largest black populations. Regression analyses of census data show that the positive association between the odds of retail enterprise and percent black was strongest for men from European immigrant groups and especially strong for men of Polish and Russian ancestry, many of whom were Jewish immigrants. The analyses reveal that the association between the odds of retail enterprise and percent black was not significant for native white or black men. The findings accord with the proposition, derived from theories of middleman minorities and ethnic queuing, that immigrant retail entrepreneurship is most strongly associated with black population size for recently arrived immigrant groups that are often socially or spatially close to urban black communities.

Retail enterprise across American regions: the role of black population size in the late nineteenth-century United States

Building on the idea that small-scale entrepreneurship often takes place in peripheral regions, the present study examines retail enterprise in the late nineteenth-century U.S., focusing on ethnic group differences across the North, South, and West. Applying theories of middleman minorities and internal colonialism, the study proposes that European immigrants and native whites had their highest retail enterprise levels in the South, where large, oppressed black populations were compelled to patronize non-black merchants, owing to a dearth of black retail proprietors. Multiple regression analyses of Census data support this proposition, calling attention to the importance of black population size as a heretofore neglected factor in regional variation in retail enterprise among European immigrants and native whites in late nineteenth-century America.

La migration régionale et entrepreneuriale des Libanais de Dakar, Abidjan et Ouagadougou

A contrario de l’analyse communautariste concernant la présence libanaise en Afrique de l’Ouest, nous proposons une grille de lecture qui prend en compte la mobilité régionale des Libanais en fonction des conditions sociopolitiques et des opportunités économiques. Sur la base d’une recherche doctorale en anthropologie sociale menée à Dakar, Abidjan et Ouagadougou, nous postulons l’existence de deux types de migrations régionales - l’une axée sur l’initiative personnelle, et l’autre sur l’initiative d’entreprises qui recrutent leurs cadres en fonction de leur appartenance nationale. Cette perception amène à réinterroger les concepts de « diaspora » et de middleman minorities classiquement mobilisés à propos de la présence libanaise en Afrique de l’Ouest mais entretenant des zones d’ombres, notamment autour de l’extraterritorialité des « communautés » et de leur mobilisation stratégique des nationalités africaines.

Middleman Minorities and Ethnic Violence: Anti-Jewish Pogroms in the Russian Empire

All over the world market-dominant minorities are victims of ethno-religious hatred and violence. This paper aims to test the theory that ethnic violence had pragmatic economic roots and ethnic violence was directly related to occupational segregation across ethnicities against the alternative “scapegoat theory,” according to which Jews were blamed for all economic misfortunes of the majority. In order to test these theories, we focus on pogroms between 1800 and 1939, i.e., episodes of anti-Jewish violence, in the Pale of Settlement, where Jews were confined to live within the Russian Empire. We combine a novel data set on pogroms and the professional and ethnic composition of the Russian Empire with data on historical climate and yield data. Using fixed-effects model, we document that heat stress in growing season, i.e., spring, leads to a fall in grain yield. Then, we exploit heat stress in spring as an exogenous source of variation in income and find that negative income shocks increase the likelihood of violence against Jews, but only during pogrom waves that are triggered by political turmoil. We find that the likelihood of anti-Jewish violence in the face of an income shock is higher in localities with a greater Jewish concentration among creditors. Our findings show that the ethno-economic segregation is an important determinant of violence against minorities.

Coloured South Africans: a middleman minority of another kind

ABSTRACTBeginning in the 1940s, a literature on middleman minorities emerged to demystify the intermediary economic niche that Jews had occupied in medieval Europe. They were viewed as ethnic entrepreneurs occupying the economic status gap. In the 1960s, scholars began to systematically apply middleman minority theory to colonial societies and to American society. South Africa also has classic middleman minorities: immigrants from South Asia. This article identifies Coloured South Africans as a middleman minority of another type: semi-privileged proletarians. It also offers a typology contrasting ethnic entrepreneurs to semi-privileged proletarians.

Transnationals in an English-speaking world

The dominance of the English language in the last half century has simplified globalisation and enabled more peoples to engage in transnational entrepreneurship than ever was possible in the past. Currently, transnational entrepreneurs need only English language competence to undertake the work of knitting together geographically and linguistically distant regions and countries. Although everywhere an elite skill, English language competence is now widespread in every region of the world. Therefore, linking two non-English-speaking countries now requires only one language, English. In the past, when middleman minorities undertook international trade, that same linkage required mastery of three language: the language of the exporter, the language of the middlemen and the language of the importer. English language dominance is a cultural resource that abets globalisation, but some evidence suggests a peculiar asymmetry arises when English-speaking countries export to non-English-speaking countries.

Israeli-Palestinian Migrants in Jerusalem: An Emerging Middleman Minority

The increased tendency of Israeli-Palestinians to migrate to Jerusalem, despite internal and external barriers for their migration to Israel's large cities, is examined through a survey of 201 migrants. The role of higher education institutions as an initial pull factor explains their highly educated profile, but opportunities as a middleman minority between Israel and East Jerusalem Palestinians, who lack Israeli citizenship, are prime motives for staying in the city, despite limited housing and schooling choices, associated with not being identified with either Jewish or Palestinian Jerusalem. Although diverging from traditional middleman minorities, in their white-collar public and professional service concentrations and in serving a coethnic group, middleman attributes of Israeli-Palestinians in Jerusalem are most profound, based on being bilingual and possessing necessary formal credentials. Their case serves to broaden the context for the application of the middleman minority concept and to demonstrate the potential and limitations of middleman functions.

Economic sociology: a systematic inquiry

List of Figures and Tables ix Preface xi Chapter One: Economic Sociology: Past Achievements and Present Challenges 1 Chapter Two: The Assumptions That Ground the Field 10 Chapter Three: Social Capital 27 Chapter Four: The Concept of Institutions 48 Chapter Five: The Concept of Social Class 71 Chapter Six: Social Class (Continued) 101 Chapter Seven: The Informal Economy 130 Chapter Eight: Ethnic Enclaves and Middleman Minorities 162 Chapter Nine: Transnational Communities 195 Chapter Ten: Markets, Models, and Regulation 220 Notes 237 Bibliography 261 Index 291

“This Place Makes me Proud to be a Woman”: Theoretical explanations for success in entrepreneurship education for low-income women

Despite serving women who are socially and economically disadvantaged, and despite being chronically under-funded and short-staffed, Women’s Business Centers (WBCs) in the United States have been extraordinarily successful in helping women start businesses [Langowitz, N., Sharpe, N., & Godwyn, M. (2006). Women’s Business Centers in the United States: Effective entrepreneurship training and policy implementation. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 19(2)]. The purpose of this research is to determine the social mechanisms that explain the success of WBCs. Two theories are applied: the macro-theory of middleman minorities [Bonacich, E. (1980). The Economic basis of ethnic solidarity: Small businesses in the Japanese American community. Berkeley: University of California Press; Butler, J. S. (2005a). Entrepreneurship and self-help among Black Americans: A reconsideration of race and economics. NY: State University of New York Press; Butler, J. S. (2005b). Regional wealth creation and the 21st century: Women and “Minorities” in the tradition of economic strangers. Unpublished manuscript. IC@ Institute/Herb Kelleher Center. The University of Texas at Austin], and the microconcept of stereotype threat [Steele, C. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape the intellectual identities and performance of women and African-Americans. American Psychologist, 52, 613–629]. Through survey, focus group and interview data analysis, this study extends the application of middleman minority theory to capture gender solidarity and demonstrates the conceptual applicability of stereotype threat to professional identity. Techniques used by WBCs to engender intra-group solidarity and neutralize the stereotype threat experienced by many female entrepreneurs may be applied to a variety of educational and workplace environments to create “identity safety” for groups whose performance is at risk. Additionally, the methodology used here provides both qualitative and quantitative measurements that are readily transferable to other settings.

Ubicación espacial de los negocios étnicos en Almería. ¿Formación de enclaves económicos étnicos?

In Almeria it’s frequently common for businesses to be run by immigrants. They have created an economical system that has been changing the city’s scenery. This is due to the previously mentioned concentration of different communities within certain areas. The installation of their businesses has been assumedly due to a responsive demand in products that haven’t been satisfied within the autochthonous trade; therefore it symbolizes the search of employment alternatives to the segmentation of the labour market. The installation of businesses can be observed in different situations; the general framework we talk about is of the appearance of ethnic economy and from this starting point we analyse the middleman minorities, the entrepreneur of enclave or the ethnic enclave economy. In this paper, with the assistance of graphical representations of maps from the different cities of the province, we outline if these business groups have the sufficient training for ethnical economy enclaves.

A historical study of the traditional livestock merchants of Alsace

PurposeThis paper is the result of empirical field research conducted in Alsace, a bi‐cultural area of France controlled by Germany from 1870 to WWI, by France between the World Wars, and by Germany during WWII. The objective of the study is to contribute to the understanding of small‐scale entrepreneurs who traditionally controlled the distribution of livestock in this bi‐cultural and multi‐lingual region.Design/methodology/approachThis paper gives an account of the livestock distribution system, which prevailed in Alsace, until the Second World War. It uses qualitative methodology, based on oral testimonies of retired entrepreneurs and verified by means of triangulation.FindingsThe findings in this paper indicate that, in this region of traditional rivalry between French and Germans, the sector was dominated by family enterprises speaking Jédich‐Daitch, serving as a middleman minority, and dealing between French‐speakers and German‐speakers, who did not trade with one another.Originality/valueThis paper shows that, while much literature shows that middleman minorities now exist around the world, it also reveals that the concept of middleman minority existed centuries ago, in the food sector; the arrangement allowed farmers to specialise in agriculture, while specialised entrepreneurs bought and sold livestock and also provided credit to farmers. This paper is of interest to historians and anthropology/management/sociology scholars of entrepreneurship, as well as practitioners in the livestock industry.

Mass killing in the Independent State of Croatia, 1941–1945: a case for comparative research

Mass Killing in the Independent State of Croatia, 1941–45 : A Case for Comparative Research