scholarly journals “Hey Cabbie! Where are you From?” An Examination of Everyday Racism in Toronto’s Taxi Industry

Author(s):  
Jessica Walters

Using an anti-racist Marxist lens, issues of social exclusion and settlement are broadly highlighted taking into account racism in an industry that is most commonly noted for its ease of entry for immigrant professionals. This study attempts to build on previous studies of Toronto’s taxi industry (Hathiyani, 2006; Abraham, Sundar, & Whitmore, 2008) to focus specifically on racism. This research paper examines the extent to which ‘everyday racism’ is both a by-product of and a critical ingredient in perpetuating structural racism, using Toronto’s taxi industry as a case study. Drawing on interviews from 18 fulltime taxi drivers who identified as racialized groups and were born outside of Canada, it describes the familiar tensions associated with experiencing and responding to instances of racism in a precarious industry. In the absence of an association, anti-discrimination or workplace rights to protect the driver against racial abuse and harassment, drivers are forced to negotiate their responses on an individualized basis. Drivers linked everyday racism to both class position and structural racism within the industry. These findings strongly demonstrated inadequate policies to protect drivers from everyday racism in the workplace as a result of both structural racism and a neo-liberal climate. This warrants further inquiry as Toronto’s taxi industry is a major employer of racialized, immigrant men.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Walters

Using an anti-racist Marxist lens, issues of social exclusion and settlement are broadly highlighted taking into account racism in an industry that is most commonly noted for its ease of entry for immigrant professionals. This study attempts to build on previous studies of Toronto’s taxi industry (Hathiyani, 2006; Abraham, Sundar, & Whitmore, 2008) to focus specifically on racism. This research paper examines the extent to which ‘everyday racism’ is both a by-product of and a critical ingredient in perpetuating structural racism, using Toronto’s taxi industry as a case study. Drawing on interviews from 18 fulltime taxi drivers who identified as racialized groups and were born outside of Canada, it describes the familiar tensions associated with experiencing and responding to instances of racism in a precarious industry. In the absence of an association, anti-discrimination or workplace rights to protect the driver against racial abuse and harassment, drivers are forced to negotiate their responses on an individualized basis. Drivers linked everyday racism to both class position and structural racism within the industry. These findings strongly demonstrated inadequate policies to protect drivers from everyday racism in the workplace as a result of both structural racism and a neo-liberal climate. This warrants further inquiry as Toronto’s taxi industry is a major employer of racialized, immigrant men.


Author(s):  
Khosi Kubeka ◽  
Sharmla Rama

Combining the theories of intersectionality and social exclusion holds the potential for structural and nuanced interpretations of the workings of power, taking systemic issues seriously but interpreting them though social relations that appear in local contexts. An intersectional analysis of social exclusion demonstrates to what extent multiple axes of social division—be they race, age, gender, class, disability or citizenship—intersect to result in unequal and disparate experiences for groups of youth spatially located in particular communities and neighborhoods. A common reference point is therefore power and how it manifests at the intersection of the local and global. A South African case study is used to explore the subjective measures and qualitative experiences of intersectionality and social exclusion further. The unique ways that language intersects with space, neighborhood, and race in the South African context, enables opportunities in education and the labor market, with profound implications for forms of social exclusion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Yitong Gan ◽  
Hongchao Fan ◽  
Wei Jiao ◽  
Mengqi Sun

In China, the traditional taxi industry is conforming to the trend of the times, with taxi drivers working with e-hailing applications. This reform is of great significance, not only for the taxi industry, but also for the transportation industry, cities, and society as a whole. Our goal was to analyze the changes in driving behavior since taxi drivers joined e-hailing platforms. Therefore, this paper mined taxi trajectory data from Shanghai and compared the data of May 2015 with those of May 2017 to represent the before-app stage and the full-use stage, respectively. By extracting two-trip events (i.e., vacant trip and occupied trip) and two-spot events (i.e., pick-up spot and drop-off spot), taxi driving behavior changes were analyzed temporally, spatially, and efficiently. The results reveal that e-hailing applications mine more long-distance rides and new pick-up locations for drivers. Moreover, driver initiative have increased at night since using e-hailing applications. Furthermore, mobile payment facilities save time that would otherwise be taken sorting out change. Although e-hailing apps can help citizens get taxis faster, from the driver’s perspective, the apps do not reduce their cruising time. In general, e-hailing software reduces the unoccupied ratio of taxis and improves the operating ratio. Ultimately, new driving behaviors can increase the driver’s revenue. This work is meaningful for the formulation of reasonable traffic laws and for urban traffic decision-making.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 323-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyed Reza Bahadori ◽  
Neda Torabi Farsani ◽  
Zahed Shafiei

Purpose Spiritual tourism is a niche tourism studied under cultural tourism. Religious events play an important role in attracting spiritual tourists. This paper aims to highlight the introduction of Yazd city (Iran) as a new spiritual tourism destination with emphasis on Shiite religious events and rituals. This research has the following three major purposes to assess the motivation of international tourists for participating in spiritual tours, examine the attitude of tourists towards spiritual tourism activities and investigate the effect on international tourists’ perceptions and views of spiritual tours organized in the Muharram and Ashura events. Design/methodology/approach This study was conducted in Yazd, Iran. Data for this study were collected through a questionnaire which was distributed in organized spiritual tours during the Muharram and Ashura events. A quantitative method was used and the data were analyzed using SPSS tools. Findings On the basis of the results of this study, it can be concluded that international tourists are interested in spiritual tourism activities and attractions in Yazd city, and spiritual tours can be a strategy against Islamophobia. Originality/value This research paper investigated the attitude of tourists to spiritual tourism activities and the effect on international tourists’ perceptions and views of spiritual tours organized in the Muharram and Ashura as the most important events in Shiite culture.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 393
Author(s):  
Giedrė Kvieskienė ◽  
Ilze Ivanova ◽  
Karmen Trasberg ◽  
Viktorija Stasytytė ◽  
Eglė Celiešienė

NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) youth rates in Europe are generally higher in rural regions than in urban areas and the share in rural regions is constantly increasing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, young people became even more vulnerable as they experienced social exclusion and mental health problems. The objective of this paper is to analyse NEET youth-related statistics in Europe and distinguish positive initiatives for young people in rural areas of the Baltic countries to encourage positive emotions and willingness to learn. Statistical analysis and case study methods were employed. Data on youth unemployment, NEET youth by age and gender, and poverty and social exclusion of young people, is analysed. Social policy initiatives in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, mainly from rural municipalities, are presented and discussed. This research determines the key issues related to NEET youth and proposes initiatives to overcome existing problems among young people. Such social initiatives aim to promote positive social emotions of youth, promote their inclusion in society, and foster regional sustainability.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoran Slavnic

This article invesitgates the processes of ethnic segmentation, precarious labour, and informalization in the Swedish taxi industry during a period of rapid deregulation during the 1990s. It does so by focussing on the life story of a single individual―Adem, a taxi driver in the Swedish city of Malmö. Despite his education, long working experience, and all efforts to make use of these advantages, all doors to an appropriate career in Sweden have remained closed to him. As a result, he has been pushed into working in the taxi sector, which is increasingly characterized by ethnic segmentation, hard working conditins, and harsh competition, forcing people to deploy informal economic strategies in order to survive. Adem’s fate becomes strongly determined by these socio-economical processes. At the same time, the article shows that these processes are not separate, but are closely interrelated and reinforce each other. On the broader level these processes are a general consequence of the neoliberal reconstruction of Western economies, and structural economic, political and social changes related to it.


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