Racial inequality in the Anglophone Caribbean: comparing the cases of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago

ABSTRACT

Research on racial inequality is expansive, with a growing body of work highlighting the nuances of racial inequality using a multidimensional approach. Much of this research has been conducted in Latin America and the United Stated; however, very little is known about how the Anglophone Caribbean fits into this discourse despite the many similarities it shares with these other regions of the Americas. To address this lacuna in the literature and add theoretical insights into the contextuality of race, I focus on the cases of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. These countries were selected as they represent the ends of the spectrum of ethno-racial diversity and race relations in the Anglophone Caribbean. Using a multidimensional approach to the measure of race, I examine outcomes of socioeconomic well-being utilising the AmericasBarometer social surveys as well as census data. The results reveal that, as with elsewhere in the Americas, a salient racial hierarchy and pigmentocracy exist in both countries and structure outcomes of education, per capita household income, and household amenities. However, while black disadvantage may have been expected in both countries, Trinidad and Tobago proves an exception. Implications of these findings are further discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Race
• skin colour
• racial inequality
• Jamaica
• Trinidad and Tobago

Acknowledgements

I thank IPUMS International and the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP), its director Mitchell Seligson, and its major supporters (USAID, UNDP, IDP and Vanderbilt University) for making the data available. I am grateful to Mackenzie Christensen for research assistance as well as Clifford Broman, Stanley Bailey, the editor, and reviewers for their helpful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Variable was created by logging the quotient of total household income by the number of people in a household.

2 Household amenities is a factor comprising of numerous items from the censuses. All items that make up household amenities factor for each country was first recoded, 0 = not available in home, and 1 = available in home. For Jamaica, this factor includes whether sample has the following: electricity, piped water supply, a sewage system, a landline telephone available, and a bathing facility (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.71). For Trinidad & Tobago factor includes whether sample had the following in their homes: internet access, automobiles, hot water heater, air-conditioning, computer, and washing machine (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.73).

3 The statistically adjusted population after applying sample weights.

4 The actual number of respondents in combined LAPOP dataset for both Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago.