 Niall Ó Murchú, Split Labor Markets and Ethnic Violence after World War I: A Comparison of Belfast, Chicago, and Johannesburg This article compares ethnic competition in the labor market and ethnic violence in Belfast, Chicago, and Johannesburg after World War I using Bonacich's split labor market theory of ethnic antagonism. Augmented by an analysis of the dominant groups' power in the workplace and the state, the theory proves quite robust in explaining postwar labor market outcomes in shipbuilding (exclusion), meatpacking (displacement), and gold mining (caste building). However, it remains inadequate in explaining interethnic violence, such as the Belfast workplace expulsions (1920), the Chicago race riot (1919), and the Rand Revolt (1922), which exceeded the bounds of the labor market. The split labor market approach is valuable in explaining segmentation but not as a general theory of ethnic antagonism. |