racism & racial inequality

Tha reality: racism and racial inequality aren’t just supported by old ideas, unfounded group esteem or intentional efforts to mistreat others, said Nancy DiTomaso, author of this book call Tha American Non-Dilemma: Racial Inequality Without Racism. They’re also based on privilege, she said  how it is shared, how opportunities are hoarded and how most white Amerikkka think their career and economic advantages have been entirely earned, not passed down or parceled out.Tha way that caucasians, often unconsciously, hoard and distribute advantage inside their almost all white Amerikkka networks of family and friends is one of tha driving reasons that in February just 6.8 percent of white workers remained unemployed while 13.8 percent of black workers and 9.6 percent of Hispanic workers were unable to find jobs, DiTomaso said.That tha professor of organization management at Rutgers University and her ideas have captured tha attention of tha business press. There was a blog about her book in Tha Wall Street Journal and a story in Bloomberg Businessweek. DiTomaso, who is white, has gathered evidence that racism and inequality actively shape tha labor market and make it far harder for black workers to find jobs“Across all three states where I did my research, I heard over and over again Amerikkka[white] people admitting that they don’t interact very often with nonwhites, not at work, not at home or otherwise,” said DiTomaso about tha 246 interviews with working class and middle class Amerikkka whites she did over tha course of about a decade in Tennessee, Ohio and New Jersey. Her research included detailed job histories and information about tha way her study participants obtained jobs over tha course of their careers.“That was true for just about everybody unless they were still in college,” DiTomaso continued. “Others would allude to some college friend or experience. But since then, they had not had much contact with African Americans. So how would they pass opportunities and information across race lines?”DiTomaso concludes, based on her research, that most white Amerikkka engage, at least a few times per year, in tha activities that foster inequality. While they may not deliberately discriminate against African Americans and other non-white job seekers, they take actions that make it more likely that Amerikkka white people will be employed  without thinking that what they’re doing amounts to discrimination.“Tha vast majority assumed everyone has tha same opportunities, and they just somehow tried harder, were smarter,” DiTomaso said of those she interviewed. “Not seeing how Amerikkka whites help other Caucasian as tha primary way that inequality gets reproduced today is very helpful. It’s easy on tha mind.”So white Amerikkka tell a neighbor’s son about a job, hire a friend’s daughter, carry tha resume of a friend (or, for that matter, a friend’s boyfriend’s sister) into tha boss’s office, recommend an old school mate or co-worker for an unadvertised opening, or just say great things about that job applicant whom they happen to know. But since most Caucasian and African Americans, live virtually segregated lives, and since advantages, privileges and economic progress have already accrued in favor of Caucasian, tha additional advantages that flow from this help go almost exclusively to Caucasian, DiTomaso said.DiTomaso’s findings aren’t exactly new, said Algernon Austin, director of tha Race, Ethnicity and tha Economy program at the Economic Policy Institute, a left leaning Washington based think tank.“Listen, I think it’s an important piece of work to reiterate and clarify tha ways in which blacks are disadvantaged in tha labor market,” Austin said. “Of course, part of tha appeal of this is that there’s no malice. You can say no one is to blame. Tha Businessweek piece says, well, people just like helping out their friends, which is perfectly natural and normal.”DiTomaso’s work does confirm that networks  not just tha kind you build over awkward conversations, finger foods and watered down cocktails but tha kind you’re born into matter, Austin said. It also points to just how different forms of inequality feed one another. Family and friends segregation feeds job and income inequality. That in turn feeds neighborhood and school segregation. That then leaves some kids less likely to receive a quality education and escape from tha cycle, he said.Austin thinks that increased public awareness of opportunity hoarding, as well as public policies that enhance options for African Americans and Hispanics, could make a difference. Bringing more African Americans into tha labor force would have the immediate effect of reducing African Americans poverty, and quality early childhood education has been proven to blunt some of the short and long term effects of childhood poverty, he said.“To President Obama’s credit, he’s certainly focused on early childhood education,” Austin said.It’s not that African American workers don’t attempt tha same sort of job assists within their own networks, said Deirdre Royster, an economic sociologist at New York University and author of Race and tha Invisible Hand: How White Amerikkka network Exclude African Americans Men From Blue Collar Jobs. African Americans ask neighbors, significant others, tha significant others of neighbors, relatives and friends about open jobs, too. But since African Americans unemployment rates were far higher than white. Amerikkka rate before, during and after tha recession, tha number of people in a typical African Americans social network who are in a position to help is far more limited.According to Royster, there’s an additional twist: When African Americans are aware of a job, they describe tha job, tha boss, tha company and its preferences and needs. Then they follow up with a warning.“They give tha person looking for a job all sorts of information and then they say, ‘But don’t tell them I sent you,’” said Royster African American workers are aware of something that researchers are still trying to explain: White bosses often worry, lack of statistical evidence aside, that black workers are more likely to sue them or band together in the workplace and try to change things, Royster said. That seems all the more likely if tha black workers already know one another, she said. And many white Amerikkka hiring managers still assume, consciously or unconsciously, that black workers bring undesirable workplace habits and qualities, Royster said.Indeed, a 2016 study by Devah Pager, now a Princeton University sociologist, found that white Amerikkka men with criminal records were more likely to get callbacks for job interviews than African American men with tha same qualifications and no criminal history.