This article examines preferential treatment strategies in Malaysia and Sri Lanka that are designed to restructure the cultural division of labor. National culture is redefined and labor-market closure mechanisms are altered in order to elevate the position of the Sinhalese and Malays who are politically, but not economically, dominant. The results show that cultural preferential systems can restructure employment practices, and help those groups that have some economic and political resources to bargain with. The Sri Lankan Tamils and Malaysian Indians had few economic or political resources and, consequently, became the losers in the three-way competition.
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