Segregated Britain. Farhaan Wali
in their sphere of domination. They could only exploit newly arriving immigrants, and thus their influence did not extend to the second generation. There are two likely explanations for this lack of complete communal control. First, the second generation was educated within the UK, and this enabled them to gain social mobility. Second, the apparatus of control utilised by the dominant classes in the enclave exclusively rely on newer immigrants remaining socio-culturally disconnected from the wider society. When new immigrants arrive within the host country, they often lack the necessary language skills to navigate British society. Therefore, they gravitate ←57 | 58→towards the familiar. On the surface, the enclave offers the new immigrant sanctuary from perceived host hostility. In reality, the enclave functions as an overreaching power that provides immigrant business with an endless supply of cheap labour.
The systematic exploitation of the immigrant labour force by established immigrants became more evident when industries across the UK began to close. The economic instability caused by downsizing unskilled labour meant some immigrants became entangled again within the separate economic sub-system of the enclave. As Saied explained, ‘when jobs become less here [East London], some people [immigrants] were forced to work in restaurants for little pay’. The decline in the broader job market drove many immigrants back into the enclave social network, as the enclave had an endless need for cheap migrant labour. The faltering economic condition of the UK, coupled with the availability of work within the enclave, stimulated an upsurge in benefit fraud. Ali, who owns a chain of shops and restaurants in London, provides insight into this dual economic system.
I came to the UK in 1956. I worked very hard, I cleaned dishes in restaurants, and I worked long hours in factories. After many years I bought a shop, it did well, so Alhamdulillah [praise be to God] I started my restaurant, which did well … I helped my community, I helped our people by giving them work … We paid cash-in-hand, to help with their income they got housing benefit and income support … I never took them hand in hand to the benefit office!
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