Inequalities and opportunity gaps for two religious' groups: A case study of regularized Katchi Abadi, in Islamabad Pakistan

《Inequalities and opportunity gaps for two religious' groups: A case study of regularized Katchi Abadi, in Islamabad Pakistan》

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关键字: Slums, adult employment;Child education, opportunity hoarding;Inequality

作者单位: School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China;State Key Laboratory of Advanced Optical Communication Systems and Networks, Shanghai Institute for Advanced Communication and Data Science, Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China;School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China;State Key Laboratory of Advanced Optical Communication Systems and Networks, Shanghai Institute for Advanced Communication and Data Science, Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

摘要: Do slum dwellers represent a homogenous group? Are minority groups always at a disadvantageous position in terms of inequality and opportunity gaps? This paper explores underlying inequalities and similarities among two religious' groups in slums in terms of adult employment and child education. This paper treats slums non-homogenously and takes Charles Tilly's theory of categorical inequality as the theoretical framework, explores the intra-slum inequalities and similarities for child education and adult employment. In the process, this paper highlights how these inequalities create and exacerbate opportunity hoarding, which further amplifies those inequalities. The analysis draws on a qualitative research with a sample of 60 semi-structured interviews conducted with participants from katchi abadis, each representing individual household. We find that structural inequality enables one group to hoarder opportunities in the case of Islamabad slums. Participants faced problems in employment and admissions. But the nature of problems is different for both religious groups. Christians stand at an advantageous position. They hoarder opportunities by having easy access to government jobs, helping them not only generating essential social capital but does also make them financially better off and have easy access to government schools.