Titre du document / Document title

Ethnic competition for an occupational niche: The case of black and Italian barbers in northern U.S. cities during the late nineteenth century = Compétition ethnique pour une niche professionnelle : le cas des coiffeurs Noirs et Italiens dans les villes du Nord des Etats-Unis à la fin du 19^e siècle

Auteur(s) / Author(s)

BOYD Robert L. ⁽¹⁾ ;

Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s)

⁽¹⁾ Mississippi State University, ETATS-UNIS

Résumé / Abstract

Ethnic groups often compete for occupational niches that can lead to entrepreneurship in the mainstream economy. In the late nineteenth century, blacks and Italian immigrants in the urban North vied for a niche serving whites in barbering. Applying human ecology theory, I explore this rivalry, analysing inter- and intra-group competition with data from the Census of 1900. As I hypothesized, black men were displaced from their barbering niche by competitive exclusion, i.e., their concentration in this niche was reduced by the entry of Italian men into the niche, and by niche saturation, i.e., the number of potential black entrants to the niche exceeded the niche's capacity to absorb them, exacerbating competition among black men for positions within the niche. Also as I hypothesized, Italian men, who ranked higher in the ethnic queue, were not inhibited by niche saturation and thus had greater opportunity to exploit their barbering niche. The analysis of this historical case of ethnic competition demonstrates that principles Of human ecology can be used to draw general conclusions about the rivalries that occur between and within minority groups for valued occupational niches in the economic mainstream

Revue / Journal Title

Sociological focus    ISSN  0038-0237 

Source / Source

2002, vol. 35, n^o3, pp. 247-265 [19 page(s) (article)] (1 p.1/4)

Langue / Language

Anglais

Editeur / Publisher

University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, ETATS-UNIS  (1967) (Revue)

Mots-clés anglais / English Keywords

Biotope

;

Human Ecology

;

Rivalry

;

Economic competition

;

Free Lance Worker

;

Ethnic Minority

;

Italian

;

Immigrant

;

Black people

;

Professions

;

Century 19

;

United States Of America

;

Mots-clés français / French Keywords

Saturation

;

Coiffeur

;

Niche écologique

;

Ecologie humaine

;

Rivalité

;

Compétition économique

;

Travailleur indépendant

;

Minorité ethnique

;

Italien

;

Immigré

;

Noir

;

Professions

;

Siècle 19

;

Etats-Unis

;

Localisation / Location

INIST-CNRS, Cote INIST : 22305, 35400010505213.0030