I have always had a passion to explore how well British Born South Asians are doing in career moves and aspirations in other areas such as sport in Britain. During my under-graduate study, my dissertation was based on how the media plays a signifcant role in promoting westernisation to British Born South Asians. I found that the 1st and 2nd generation Asians are now becoming much more western in their thinking and allowing their children persue their desired careers etc. Suprisingly enough, even though children have a chance to persue their desired careers, there still seems to be a demand for professions such as Law and Medicine. If people are becoming more western, why hasn't this had an effect on the rise of ethnic minorities working within the PR idustry?
The need for cultural change is necessary for the PR industry, if it wants to reflect a wider audience.
Do feel that there should be a change in the way in which parents and children use tradition to base their decisions on when it comes to their careers?
11 comments:
Hey Pav
I think its interesting how you flipped the situation around. Insted of looking at it in the sense of 'PR agencies do not employ Asian people' im now taking the view that 'Asian people need to change their mentality' in order for the PR to have more people working for the industry in relation to Ethnic minorities.
Most certainly an interesting take!!
Hi Pav,
I extremely agree with you that the 1st and 2nd generation Asians are now becoming much more western in their thinking and allowing their children peruse their desired careers. And I think that this have an effect on the rise of ethnic minorities working within the PR industry. You can find nowadays a lot of Asians who work in Communication & PR and doing great job.
Choosing your future job is up to you and I don’t think that should be a change in the way in which parents and children use tradition to base their decisions on when it comes to their careers. I don’t think that parents force their children to think in their way. World is changing and globalization, Communication techniques, and Technology strengthened your own independency and your way of thinking
Sad but true, many Asian and even Arab parents do still wield quite a lot of power when it comes to "directing" their children's career paths. Perhaps it would be interesting to see whether they are more comfortable or compliant with letting their daughters join this field than their sons?
Resistance follows behind change. Change, whether cultural, social, political or economical rearly occurs without tension.
People generally use their own experiences as points of reference to guide their decisions. When there are few points of reference, fear of the unknown sets in. Parents are happier when their children take well known routes to success. It's natural. PR for many is uncharted territory and is being treated with caution. Equally, increased amounts of ethnic minorities in PR is also uncharted territory for the industry.
When change occurs or is implemented gradually/incrementally, levels of resistance tend to be lowered.
There's resistance on both sides (of the same coin), in the PR industry and among Asians. Education, time and a curious generation will probably determine the eventual outcome.
From what I see of the development of the large Maltese community in Australia, one of the intersting factors seems to be that third generation Maltese, the vast majority of whom have never been to Malta, have a very distorted and nostaligic view of their parents or grandparenst country of origin. I suppose it's a case of the grass always being greener on the other side. The impact of this is that you get a lot of third generation Maltese pursuing what they percieve to be traditional professions. Maybe the same sort of thing applies to Asians in the UK.
Interesting comments about "parental choice" as opposed to "my choice". As a parent myself I fully intend to lead my children down a specific path but it will most certainly be their choice.
The path I do lead them down will be a solid education at the end of which the riches will be a honest and rewarding career. At the end of the day they need to be able to put a roof over their head and food on the plate.
PR is certainly not one of the options I have ever considered, mainly because my perception of PR is not that good and awareness is lacking.
The PR industry needs to do more to prmote itself. The likes of Pav making a career of it, people finding out about it, etc will help and go a long way.
The issue that you are all bringing up of 'parental choice' highlights my point that Asian parents are now becoming more western.
They seem to be evolving as time passes as they are now giving their children more choice in making their own decisions when it come to chooing their careers.
BUT, there are still barriers. I wounder whether these will ever be lifted!
My opinion is that whether or not a person is westernised or traditional in he/she’s upbringing, professions like law and medicine is for many the first choice partly due to the salaries involved. Take for example, I have a friend studying to be a charted accountant and not just an accountant because this is where the money is. To some extent, tradition does play a role in decision making, but at the end of the day, it comes down to the individual and what type is lifestyle and prestige he/she wants. Also these professions have professional bodies unlike in PR where debate on issues like codes of conduct and so forth continues.
I think thats a difficult one to answer..
I agree with Sheryl in the sense that people tend to go into industries where the big bucks are. Saying that though, a guy I work with only went into accountancy because its what his parents wanted him to go into.
He originally wanted to go into graphic designing, but his parents had never heard of that before (he's european). It was only up until recently he signed up to do a course in graphic design. He said it took a while for his parents to warm to the idea, as they are more money minded..
I think that everyone needs to change with the time.. There are so many more choices when it comes to careers.. more now than there were 20 years ago. I think its important to go for a job where you feel comfortable and happy. Whether that be as a MD in a big firm or as a cartoonist for the local paper!
open questions - how long does it take to qualify in PR, how does it compare to accountancy, law, medicine etc and then how does the reward compare?
I know money isn't everything but it helps.
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