Requerimientos de Kaizen

realities of the minority situation and the expectations of the larger society, and hence the more introverted is the minority likely to become (Martin, 1972b :106-116).

These findings are presented as promising propositions and their format

implies that the writer sees them as approaching law-like statements and

that through further refinement in the form of hypothesis testing they may

reach the status of laws. However, the critique of this approach presented

in Part I indicated that theoretical laws cannot be derived in this fashion.

Martin is making connections between empirical constructs, e.g.,

authoritarian individuals, resources available, but applying them as if

they were theoretical concepts. In another sense, the nature of the

questions p°sed and the findings obtained are totally uncritical of the

What is noticeably absent from studies of ethnic relations in

Australia is a representation of the social system in which to study ethnic

groups. Even where it is the intention of the researcher to develop an

increased understanding of the totality which constitutes the social

structure, it is implicit that this is to be achieved by 'working up' from

ethnic relations in an inductive fashion. This approach fails to

appreciate the role of ethnic groups in maintaining the social system:

as a component of the system.

There are many other studies in the Australian discourse of ethnic

relations which rely upon the same epistemological assumptions and hence

suffer from similar shortcomings as the studies discussed above. It is

not intended to provide an exhaustive review of

alt

an exercise would be of little value. However a few of the questions posed

in other studies can give an idea of the empiricist nature of the

problematic.

3. Banchevska in the study entitled 'The Immigrant Family1 asks:

What is the future of the immigrant? Is he to remain an isolate living in

his ethnic community, in a foreign enclave, for the rest of his days? What

of his children? Is the alternative assimilation, complete absorption into

the community? (1974:151).

4. Cell in his work 'The New Australians' asks:

... whether Australia, like America can absorb successfully the massive inflow, mould a 'nation of immigrants' different from any of the countries of origin, one to which all have contributed. Put another way, for of course the people are there and so they must form some kind of cultural compromise, will the product have much resemblance to the Australia of past and present? Can the Australian ethos absorb the shock? Or will it be swamped?

(Cell, 1969:249).

How does Cell answer this?

All that can be said is that the swamping has not happened yet ... The impact of the new Australians is thus impossible to assess

104

with any accuracy. Any judgments would necessarily be

premature (Cell, 1969:249-50).

Price has recently edited a collection of writings under the heading

of Greeks in Australia (1975). This collection is seen as fulfilling the

need to supply more studies in depth on this particular ethnic group

(1975:2). Furthermore, the volume is seen:

Of special interest to those working in social sciences or involved in the social problems of Greek families and communities (Price, 1975:2).

Thus the social problem orientation of these studies seems clear from

Price's statement.

This brief critique of some Australian studies in ethnic relations

which go to make up the discourse has concentrated on the internal

components of the practice, i.e., the non-systematic, empiricist,

g

arbitrary, aspects. If sociological knowledge is inherently value laden

as was argued in the previous part, what values underlie these pieces of

research? Questions of this sort are concerned with the external

components of the practice and are not easy to ascertain because the

political implications of the research are not spelled out in these studies (Galvin, 1980). For instance will the results of Wilson's study

inform politicians of how they might develop strategies to attract 'the

ethnic vote'? Does Martin's study provide information for governments on

how they may assist the break down of ethnicity (at least its

organisational manifestations) and promote migrant participation in

Australian associations? Or does it inform migrant groups on how to

retain their ethnicity?

What unites these studies, and the discourse of ethnic relations in

general, with respect to the epistemological conceptions underlying them

is their empiricist and positivist nature. Empiricist, in the sense

expressed by Althusser of perceiving the object of knowledge as a given

Positivist, in the sense that knowledge is regarded as value free, that

the object is pre-theoretical and that the aim of sociological practice

is to develop laws about society.

Finally, it should be added, that these studies tend to be non-critical

of the social system. Where they are 'critical', it is almost always at a

tinkering, social engineering level - and never of the total system.