From the time of Booker T. Washington to today, and William Julius Wilson, the advice dispensed to young black men has invariably been, "Get a trade." Deirdre Royster has put this folk wisdom to an empirical test--and, in Race and the Invisible Hand, exposes the subtleties and discrepancies of a workplace that favors the white job-seeker over the black. At the heart of this study is the question: Is there something about young black men that makes them less desirable as workers than their white peers? And if not, then why do black men trail white men in earnings and employment rates? Royster seeks an answer in the experiences of 25 black and 25 white men who graduated from the same vocational school and sought jobs in the same blue-collar labor market in the early 1990s. After seriously examining the educational performances, work ethics, and values of the black men for unique deficiencies, her study reveals the greatest difference between young black and white men--access to the kinds of contacts that really help in the job search and entry process.
Author(s): Deirdre A. Royster
Edition: 1
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 242
TABLES......Page 10
FOREWORD......Page 12
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 16
1. Introduction......Page 18
2. “Invisible” and Visible Hands: Racial Disparity in the Labor Market......Page 33
3. From School to Work . . . in Black and White: A Case Study......Page 54
4. Getting a Job, Not Getting a Job: Employment Divergence Begins......Page 77
5. Evaluating Market Explanations: The Declining Significance of Race and Racial Deficits Approaches......Page 99
6. Embedded Transitions: School Ties and the Unanticipated Significance of Race......Page 121
7. Networks of Inclusion, Networks of Exclusion: The Production and Maintenance of Segregated Opportunity Structures......Page 161
8. White Privilege and Black Accommodation: Where Past and Contemporary Discrimination Converge......Page 196
Appendix......Page 210
NOTES......Page 212
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 222
INDEX......Page 234
