In a taxi, stuck or going places? A Bourdieusian intersectional analysis of the employment habitus of Pakistani taxi drivers in the UK

Almost one in four Pakistani men in the UK drive taxis for a living (EHRC, 2010). This figure has doubled from one in eight in 1991, and is high for British Pakistani men compared to ‘one in a hundred of the whole population’ (McEvoy and Haveez, 2009). For ethnic minorities working in low-paid occupations, occupational segregation can lead to inequality (Blackwell, 2003), and it has a long-lasting effect on intergenerational mobility (Corak, 2013). A largely masculine occupation, taxi driving is a rarely studied occupation, and has mostly been considered as a ‘marginal form of self-employment’ (McEvoy and Haveez, 2009) or an ‘immigrant’s job’ (Waterman and Kosmin, 1986). This study explores to what extent taxi driving is a choice or whether there are factors that constrain the employment opportunities for the men in this ethnic group. Drawing upon Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction and feminist scholarly work on intersectionality, the study takes an ethnographic approach to understand the employment habitus of these men that affects their (self)-employment choices. The research locates the intersection of class, affiliation (religious), gender and ethnicity, forming the habitus of Pakistani taxi drivers as a CAGE like structure, which affects the life chances and shapes the occupational choices of individuals in this study. The key to this cage exists as knowledge, equal opportunity and a yearning for a better life. This has implications for policy and practice in terms of education, support in the early career years, and better practices to eradicate structural racism in the labour market.