Muslim active citizenship in Australia: Socioeconomic challenges and the emergence of a Muslim elite

Abstract

The most recent national Census demonstrated that Australian Muslims continue to occupy a socioeconomically disadvantaged position. On key indicators of unemployment rate, income, type of occupation and home ownership, Muslims consistently under-perform the national average. This pattern is evident in the last three Census data (2001, 2006 and 2011). Limited access to resources and a sense of marginalisation challenge full engagement with society and the natural growth of emotional affiliation with Australia. Muslim active citizenship is hampered by socioeconomic barriers. At the same time, an increasingly proactive class of educated Muslim elite has emerged to claim a voice for Muslims in Australia and promote citizenship rights and responsibilities.

最近的全国普查显示，澳大利亚的穆斯林仍处于社会经济的弱势地位。在诸如失业率、收入、就业类型、家居拥有等关键指标看，穆斯林一直位于国家平均水平之下。这一模式在最近三次普查（2001、2006、2011）中非常明显。获得资源渠道的有限以及边缘化感觉阻碍着他们充分参与社会，以及在情感上融入澳大利亚。穆斯林的公民意识受困于社会经济障碍。与此同时，也出现了一班受到良好教育的穆斯林精英，这个积极进取的阶层开始为澳大利亚的穆斯林代言，促进他们的公民权利和义务。

Keywords:

• Muslims
• active citizenship
• socioeconomic marginalisation
• civic elite
• multiculturalism

Notes

1 The Buddhist share of the Australian population is 2.5 per cent.

2 This is defined as the proportion of those aged over 15 years without a job who are actively looking for work in relation to the total labour force.

3 In a 2007 survey respondents from cultural minority communities explained their concerns about volunteering, highlighting problems of, among others, personal time constraints and additional volunteering-related costs, for example, for public transport or meals (Australian Multicultural Foundation and Volunteering Australia 2007: 66).