Men and Women of the Corporation

https://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/download/14795/13847

Persistent racial inequality in employment, housing, and a wide range of other social domains has renewed interest in the possible role of discrimination. And yet, unlike in the pre–civil rights era, when racial prejudice and discrimination were overt and widespread, today discrimination is less readily identifiable, posing problems for social scientific conceptualization and measurement. This article reviews the relevant literature on discrimination, with an emphasis on racial discrimination in employment, housing, credit markets, and consumer interactions. We begin by defining discrimination and discussing relevant methods of measurement. We then provide an overview of major findings from studies of discrimination in each of the four domains; and, finally, we turn to a discussion of the individual, organizational, and structural mechanisms that may underlie contemporary forms of discrimination. This discussion seeks to orient readers to some of the key debates in the study of discrimination and to provide a roadmap for those interested in building upon this long and important line of research.

/pdf/the-sociology-of-discrimination-racial-discrimination-in-4hx9tlxkkx.pdf

The Sociology of Discrimination: Racial Discrimination in Employment, Housing, Credit, and Consumer Markets

Journalists and authors of trade books increasingly assert a female advantage in leadership, whereby women are more likely than men to lead in a style that is effective under contemporary conditions. Contrasting our analysis of these claims with Vecchio's [Leadersh. Q. 13 (2002) 643] analysis, we show that women have some advantages in typical leadership style but suffer some disadvantages from prejudicial evaluations of their competence as leaders, especially in masculine organizational contexts. Nonetheless, more women are rising into leadership roles at all levels, including elite executive roles. We suggest reasons for this rise and argue that organizations can capture the symbols of progressive social change and modernity by appointments of women in key positions.

/pdf/the-female-leadership-advantage-an-evaluation-of-the-si5vz81mq0.pdf

The female leadership advantage: An evaluation of the evidence

The Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory, Research, Practice

▪ Abstract This chapter surveys sociological approaches to the study of job authority, including theoretical foundations, measurement, and emergence as an important dimension of social inequality. The focus here is mainly on studies of race and gender differences in the determinants of authority and the consequences of race and gender differences in authority for income. Despite significant advancements in the overall socioeconomic status of minorities and working women, race and gender remain important impediments to their attainment of authority. This pattern, which is consistent and robust in state-level, national, cross-national, and cross-temporal studies, is sustained net of an incumbent's human capital investments and structural location within and between several economic units. Following a review of the predominant explanations for gender and racial disparities in job authority is the conclusion that the most promising explanations for persistent racial and gender disparities in authority concern...

/pdf/race-gender-and-authority-in-the-workplace-theory-and-bvl3qdlun1.pdf

Race, Gender, and Authority in the Workplace: Theory and Research

Survey data support hypotheses regarding differential access to workplace power among women and minorities relative to white men. Specific findings indicate that, relative to white men, all groups encounter increasing inequality at higher levels of power, but only black women seem to experience this form of inequality as a result of direct discrimination. Further analysis indicates that network assistance is more a response to this form of discrimination than an indirect cause. Finally, analysis shows that most groups attain power through homosocial reproduction, but what differs is the opportunity to engage in such reproduction, wherein white men excel. These findings imply that while women and minorities face lower odds than white men of achieving higher levels of workplace power, the reasons for this disadvantage vary among respective groups and thus will likely require different remedies.

/pdf/race-gender-and-workplace-power-4bgbu28ios.pdf

Race, Gender, and Workplace Power:

Research on minority authority attainment tends to stress top-down processes of social closure, whereby the dominant social group produces and preserves positions of power and influence by excluding out-group members. We argue that this view, while helpful, is incomplete. Returning to Weber's original conceptualization of social closure, we argue that top-down exclusion often generates pressures for bottom-up ascription, whereby employers match supervisors to the social characteristics, particularly race and ethnicity, of their subordinate work groups. Results from the Multi-City Survey of Urban Inequality strongly support our argument and also reveal that bottom-up ethnic matching reduces perceptions of racial discrimination among subordinates. These results offer a useful corrective to the assumption that elites only reproduce themselves and underscore the importance of group composition for understanding mobility opportunities available to minority workers.

/pdf/ethnic-matching-of-supervisors-to-subordinate-work-groups-1zp58suebs.pdf

Ethnic matching of supervisors to subordinate work groups: Findings on bottom-up ascription and social closure

This article uses survey data to address two previously unanswered questions: What explains the gap in promotion between women and minorities relative to White men? and Are the processes that determine promotions for White men the same for minorities and women? Overall, race and gender intersect to produce unique promotion outcomes for all groups. Specifically, promotion gaps between White men and their female and minority counterparts are largely a function of group differences in performance indicators and work commitment. Also, relative to White men, before receiving a promotion, Black men must work longer periods of time after leaving school and Latinos must accrue more years with their current employer. Finally, the processes that lead to promotion do not differ between White men and White women, but relative to White men, Black women and Latinas must have more prior job-specific experience and more overall work experience before receiving a promotion—allelse equal.

Do the Determinants of Promotion Differ for White Men Versus Women and Minorities? An Exploration of Intersectionalism Through Sponsored and Contest Mobility Processes:

This article examines whether ethnic concentration in establishments, occupations, and industries influences the authority attainment of white, black, Hispanic, and Asian men and women. Data from the Multi-City Survey of Urban Inequality and the 1990 decennial census indicate that “horizontal” concentration among roughly equivalent coworkers and within local industrial and occupational sectors has little effect on minority chances of accessing positions of authority. However, “vertical” concentration in the form of racial/ethnic matching of supervisors to subordinate work groups exerts a strong and consistent effect among all groups, implying that authority attainment depends a great deal on the opportunity to supervise largely coethnic work groups. We conceptualize this “ethnic matching” of supervisors to subordinates as a kind of “sticky floor” that binds individual opportunity for workplace authority to the structural opportunity to exercise control over members of one’s own race and ethnicity.

/pdf/does-ethnic-concentration-influence-employees-access-to-neoxtkm94c.pdf

Ryan A. Smith

Papers

Race, Gender, and Authority in the Workplace: Theory and Research

Race, Gender, and Workplace Power:

Ethnic matching of supervisors to subordinate work groups: Findings on bottom-up ascription and social closure

Do the Determinants of Promotion Differ for White Men Versus Women and Minorities? An Exploration of Intersectionalism Through Sponsored and Contest Mobility Processes:

Does Ethnic Concentration Influence Employees' Access to Authority? An Examination of Contemporary Urban Labor Markets