Rachel’s Tavern- Shakesville Comment on Whiteness and Racial Awareness
- Arrested for BAHWB (Being at Home While Black)
- John Hope Franklin Has Died
- Bottles, Breasts, and Mothering “Choices”
- NAACP Class Action Lawsuit on Subprime Loans
- We Have a Future Blogger
- I’m Afraid President Obama, Himself, is a Bit of Coward on the Race Issue
- Highly Skilled US Immigrants are Emigrating: What’s the deal?
- Troll Comments Galore
- Mark’s Spinach Face
Sep
19
Race in The Workplace: The “50% Brother/Sister”
Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Education and Academia, Original Essays and Analysis, Race and Racism, Sociology, Uncategorized by Rachel
My partner and I were having a discussion the other day with a mutual friend of ours. Our friend is a middle to upper middle class professional black man, and he has recently experienced some trouble in his workplace, in particular being passed over by a coworker who failed a qualifying exam three times1 We were joking about racism, like we often do, and we got into a discussion of some of the more subtle ways that whites are advantaged in the workforce.
He made a joke that was funny, but unfortunately this joke is indicative of some serious problems in the labor force. in this conversation, we were discussing a Latino friend who is woefully underemployed. He was trained at a fairly good private university in a applied technology field, but in spite of having a degree from a good school, he’s struggled to get a good job in the 10 years he’s been out college. Given the rapid changes in his field since his graduation, his likelihood of getting a job in that area today are slim. The nature of his field, like many, is such that a person goes into a job with basic knowledge, but much of the training comes when the person actually gets the job. My partner said, “Yeah, you only know 50% of what you need to know for a job before you start it.” Our friend had a great come back in the form of a joke2 –”The problem is Carlos is the 50% brother. Nobody wants to hire the 50% brother.”3 The two black men (my partner and his friend) in the conversation were high fiving and laughing hysterically, “That’s minorities in the workforce.” I got in a few laughs myself, but the sad thing is that their joke reveals a truth that most people of color know–you need to be more than just a qualified person of color to get a job.
They were arguing that it is much harder for people of color (and white women) who have the 50% knowledge to get their foot in the door for jobs that require more on the job training. Moreover, they felt that even though it would be expected that a person would not know everything required for one of these jobs, lack of knowledge is often held against people of color as a sign that they are unqualified or less qualified, whereas whites without that knowledge are viewed as trainable. In fact, they both felt that an overqualified or very highly qualified person of color (or white woman) stood a better chance of getting a job than even their white counterparts, in part because employers would be surprised and would be more likely to see this as an opportunity to diversify. 4 I’m not a sociologist in the field of work and occupations, so I don’t know much of the research emanating out of that field, but I have heard the 50% Brother/Sister Argument before from many people of color, and I tend to think it is true.
The first issue that many people of color (and white women) face in 50% jobs, is the fact that their lack of knowledge is held against them more than it is for whites. Part of this problem relates to camaraderie, which I discuss below, but the other issue is that there is a common stereotype that people of color are less qualified than whites in the first place. Some people of color worry about acknowledging that they do not have a particular skill, fearing that their lack of knowledge of this particular skill will be viewed as a sign of being unqualified. On the other hand, there is also a fear of saying that they know everything because it can come off as bragging. 5 When a person feels close to an interviewee or a co-worker, their lack of knowledge fades more into the background and their trainability is more evident.
These 50% jobs require that the person hired work closely with the others around him or her, so the extent to which potential coworkers feel a degree of camaraderie with this person will make a much greater difference in evaluations during a job interview. Carlos has spent most of his life in NYC, and he’s spent very little of his time in predominantly white environments. He doesn’t necessarily know the insider jokes and norms that middle income whites have, and most middle incomes whites are probably unfamiliar with the same insider norms and jokes the he grew up with in his predominantly black and Latino neighborhood. My partner and his friend were arguing that this was one of the key problems Carlos was having.
One of the biggest barriers, when it comes to race, is the level of interactional comfort and camaraderie that people feel when they are in the presence of people of other races. I think this is one of the primary manifestations of contemporary racism. Many people have a discomfort that is conscious or unconscious, and this hurts people of color in the job market because it profoundly affects how they are evaluated by higher ups and co-workers6 I think this is really hurting Carlos and many other people of color like him, who don’t have extensive interpersonal interactions with the middle class whites who will be hiring them.
I think camaraderie is always going to be a factor in job hiring and promotions, but we can work on the two other problems. We can make sure that race doesn’t affect people’s perceptions of qualifications.7 This may mean making parts of the hiring process more race blind and other parts more race conscious. We also need to address the issue of comfort and camaraderie. Until the discomfort many people feel in the presence of people of other races subsides, people of color are routinely going to be passed over for hires and promotion when they are definitely qualified. I understand that racial discomfort is often a two way street with both whites and people of color feeling discomfort at times, but if we are talking about this in relation to institutional power, people of color are significantly more likely to be negatively impacted by whites discomfort than the reverse. There is no way in a short blog post I can detail all of the ways we can work to stop the interactional uneasiness created by racism and racial prejudice, but the workplace and most other social institutions will never be equal until this problem is addressed.
- If I remember correctly this coworker is Latino, and race is likely one of the factors in the background of our friend being passed over, but he thinks the greater problem is cronyism. [back]
- Yeah, it doesn’t read like a joke, but he was laughing and talking goofy when he said it. [back]
- I’m changing his name here. [back]
- I don’t think they are right about this, and I’m not sure what exact comparison they were using. I’m not sure if they meant to compare the overqualified black candidate to overqualified whites, qualified whites, or whites at all levels of qualifications, but it was interesting argument. I have seem a few cases where this has happened, but I’m quite reluctant to say it’s a trend unless I see some data. [back]
- I’m going to do a second post on race and bragging in the workplace because this was the second part of the conversation we had that day. [back]
- Here is an example of a study that found whites experience increased stress when they are around people of color. This finding does not appear to be an anomaly. [back]
- I’m reminded here of a recent discussion we had at Alas about Barack Obama’s qualifications. In that discussion Amp, linked to a post by Dave Schraub, where he notes that Obama has more experience in elected office than Clinton, Giulinani, Romney, Thompson, and Edwards. But somehow, Obama is viewed as inexperienced and less qualified. [back]
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17 Responses to “Race in The Workplace: The “50% Brother/Sister””
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Rachel, with all due respect, I don’t think this particular phenomenon applies to white women. Now, it could be that I’ve simply worked for too many woefully underqualified white women, but I think many of them have the prerogative to trade on both white skin, and in some cases their sexuality, to get ahead. Obviously, they don’t have as much skin privilege as white males, but they certainly do have a leg up on any brown people to be sure.
I’ve also seen plenty of white women play the ‘delicate flower’ role to exploit their position in the work place. If you’re a black woman, and you get into a dispute with them, then suddenly you’re the ‘big, mean black woman.’
The point about socializing and camaraderie was very interesting.
Although East Asians generally have more privilege than black people and some Latinos when it comes to the workplace, that point really applies just as much to us. There’s the Asian glass ceiling for leadership roles. I think a lot of Asians have high levels of social anxiety in interviewing and workplace networking situations. I know I do!
Asian men have to deal with the stereotype that they’ll be totally overqualified in analytical skills and totally underqualified in social/communicative skills. Asian women have more chance of being hired in publicly visible roles but only if they meet newscaster-type standards for physical perfection… otherwise they’re basically in the same boat as Asian men. Knowing this dynamic does not give someone a lot of confidence going into a camaraderie-building, “wow we have so many things in common” workplace setting.
Roslyn, It definitely does apply to white women especially in many occupations where women are still outnumbered. Corporate board rooms, construction and other skilled trades, some academic disciplines (a few natural sciences, philosophy, engineering)–women of all races often struggle in those occupations finding mentoring or being able to make the on the side connections that they need. In my partner’s old job, which was sales (which can be very male dominated depending on the type of sales) his boss very specifically said that he didn’t want to hire women because he couldn’t make as many jokes and he would be worried about the women being “over sensitive.”
I definitely agree with you that white women have significant advantages over women of color in the labor force. Where is gets stickier is comparing white women and men of color (obviously assuming all other things are equal–same qualifications, same sexual orientation, same disability status and so one). My sense is that this depends on the particular place of employment and the type of occupation.
Atlasien,
I didn’t mention Asians, but I strongly agree. I’ve heard this especially from foreign born Asians, but the forever foreigner stereotype also extends this problem to any Asian person foreign born or not.
What they are describing is what an economist (like myself) would roughly term statistical discrimination i.e., disparate outcomes between majority and minority candidate regardless of the level of racial animus.
In this case, being as qualified as the typical white candidate is not enough because true ability is not visible. Employers infer ability based on a set of personal signals ( college degree, personality, exam etc.) and group signals (race,gender). In this case, if employers know that blacks (say) have lower average test scores than comparable whites and they place alot of inital weight on group signal then the black is disadvantaged i hiring or wages conditional on being hired even if there is no racial prejudice. Clearly, this same sort of paradigm applies to females, immigrants, etc.
The point is that getting in the door is difficult under this regime is difficult for these group members because hiring any individual employee is an inherently risky investment.
The first questions that have long popped into my head when I hear of situations like these are: How thick is this person’s regional or ethnic accent? Does this person have a business-oriented speaking voice?
One of the first truly striking characteristics I noted after moving to Atlanta was that many Southern white-collar workers lose most if not all of their accent while at work. Once we hit Happy Hour, though, that good ol’ Southern drawl reappeared.
Further, those norms and insider jokes are much more than casual instances; they signify universal understanding among the conversants. In my first major career position, I was one of two members of management who had not played college football. Neither of us really spoke the same language as the other guys, and more than a few times during meetings we looked at each other with that wtf expression. Ever since, I have viewed positions as well as clients that have a strong football culture with a jaded eye.
Another pervasive workplace culture is ex-military. In that, I am fortunate because I am a medaled veteran of the US Marine Corps. Not only do I speak the language, but I know to respect the wording and the inflections of giving and taking orders. Depending on context, the same order can mean ‘find a hole for a couple hours and take a nap’ to ‘this is a much bigger project than I am actually saying but I trust you to carry it out’.
Here too is a subculture, the military academy graduates, those guys are from a different planet altogether, but get them in the same room — believe me, they often do just that — and you may as well just stand in the corner.
Let’s put it this way as an example: If you want to work for Trump Enterprises, you had best learn TrumpSpeak.
One other concept to which your post hints is that of team player, a very common paradigm in today’s business climate. Managers know their teams and generally they have experience with what personalities mesh with established teams. Qualifications mean nothing if a manager thinks a candidate would mire his people down in non-productive side-issues.
As for diversity, business is no stranger to the term. A successful business is constantly adjusting in both directions its level of asset diversification, of which employees are the type: intangible. Sometimes, the market dictates a highly diverse portfolio of employees; at other times, a tight band of crewcut yes-men is required (as Carly Fiorina discovered too late as she drove Hewlett-Packard close to bankruptcy).
To convince the capitalists otherwise, you must convince them that they will profit. To convince them, you must show a history of ever-increasing achievement and growth. If you cannot do that, either on a personal level or at the racial level, those hiring managers are forced with few exceptions to go with what (and who) they know.
Reading the comment by dcase reminded me of one other hiring issue, salary and benefits negotiations.
A smart but otherwise less-than-qualified person will try to undercut the salary demands of the adequately qualified person but include a stipulation for a three-month salary adjustment and a belated signing bonus. This lowers the company’s monetary risk yet gives them time to assess a new hire’s ability to learn and function within the position. I successfully used this tactic a number of time to attain goals that were, technically speaking, beyond my means.
“Do you want the $1.29 flyswatter made in Des Moines with the 1-year warranty, or the $5.49 flying insect spray imported from China and sold as is?”
As an aside, many companies note candidates’ negotiation skills during this hiring phase with the philosophy that if an individual cannot sell him/herself, then s/he probably cannot sell the company’s products and/or services.
“To convince them, you must show a history of ever-increasing achievement and growth. If you cannot do that, either on a personal level or at the racial level…”
So I should go to an interview armed with a special addendum to my resume: a bullet point list describing the achievements of the Asian race? I’m skeptical.
I’m not sure exactly what you’re arguing, but it sounds like you’re placing a lot faith in the hiring manager. Any hiring manager is going to be an unpredictable mix of competence and incompetence. They might be hiring with the bottom line in mind… then again, they might be hiring because they think the new employee will be gullible, unambitious and dimwitted enough not to challenge their power.
One of the most useful thing minorities can do is get specific coaching tailored to conforming to the white male standard. For example: white women to behave more assertively and not use rising intonation, black people to present as non-threatening, Asians to present as socially confident and glib. It’s not always going to be enough, but at least it helps.
I just had a long talk recently with a black woman who is extremely successful in a white male dominated profession. She said almost all of her success was due to extensive coaching by some white male colleagues early on in her career… they told her exactly what she was doing wrong. She said she was lucky to fall in with them, and without that coaching she would never, ever have moved forward.
It’s a depressing dynamic especially when you consider that white males aren’t even close to the majority in this country. It’s a game, and I don’t think there’s any real profit advantage to the game. There’s certainly no moral or ethical reason for it. It’s just the game, and we all have to play by the rules… or else try to invent new ones.
Interesting post rachel, thanks for the insight.
“a bullet point list describing the achievements of the Asian race?”
No, that is what the activists must achieve.
“Any hiring manager is going to be an unpredictable mix of competence and incompetence.”
Yes, but the hiring manager — not HR — is your future boss. Plus, an incompetent future boss isn’t all bad if you think you have a reasonable shot of replacing him in the near term after your hire — better known in office politics as ‘conspiracy to knife somebody in the back’.
“They might be hiring with the bottom line in mind”
That is inapplicable to my example because once the negotiated salary, salary adjustment and signing bonus are added, a smart negotiator will end up, bottom line, with more money (and pay less taxes) at the end of the first year than the guy who bid a flat salary.
(See, the trick to this is the company gets to defer a portion of the salary to the next fiscal quarter, while the signing bonus most likely comes from the HR recruiting budget rather than from the salaries cost category. IOW, this is why a company can legally hire such an underqualified individual; his bid for starting salary was the lowest. Since the company has the option of terminating the employment contract before the bonus and adjusted salary are paid, that part of the compensation package does not count toward starting salary [nor does the severance pay for the early termination]. The actual accounting is a bit more complex than I describe but it is nothing that a junior- level accounting major couldn’t handle. Plus, many negotiated employment contracts go much deeper than just salaries and bonuses. My last employment contract ran six pages.)
“white males arent even close to the majority in this country”
What?! White males are roughly 40% and white females around 42%. The remaining block of 18% is everyone else. I’d call that fairly close to being in the majority.
… and yes, of course, it’s a game. Those who love playing it the most will be the ones who succeed. While some may find it depressing, others of us find it exhilarating.
If you want to jump up the ladder immediately and step right into the position of company president, just get a Minority Small Business Loan and start your own company. For over ten years now, the number of minority-originated businesses has grown so steadily that a number of mutual funds now specialize in that sector.
Rachel – I think this camaradie or comfortability level is always very important. For example, I work at a place where time is money and many business decisions are made at a country club, lunch, dinner, or some other social event. If a white man who happens to be making hiring decisions, has a choice between a trainable white person and qualified black person the white person probably will get the job. People do business with people they like and not necessarily people who happen to be the most qualified.
In addition, money is not everything in business. Even if it would be more profitable to do business with a black person, some people would rather do business with another white person.
Familial relationship is very important in every aspect of any society. People feel more comfortable with people who share the same culture, values, and ethnicity. Jews have always done business with Jews; Italians do business with other Italians; Koreans do business with other Koreans;
Unfortunately, African-American people have not removed the badge of servitude and inferiority to learn from the example of other ethnic groups.
For those last two responses from T.R. Pollyanna and Ron I just have to break out the smilies…
There are real world, practical actions (i.e. no racial bullet points and magic badges) that minorities can take to mitigate the effects of institutionalized racism. None of them work 100% but they’re better than nothing.
1. Assimilate: get coaching on the difficult job of conforming to the white male norm in a non-threatening but confident manner.
2. Withdraw: self-employment, employment in a minority-run company, or a job that involves minimal social contact with transparently merit-based progression.
3. Fight: try to change the rules and raise awareness of institutionalized racism, help other people as well as yourself.
I think a mix is necessary. Only the very strongest people can use a “Fight” approach consistently without cracking under the pressure.
For those last two responses from T.R. Pollyanna and Ron I just have to break out the smilies
There are real world, practical actions (i.e. no racial bullet points and magic badges) that minorities can take to mitigate the effects of institutionalized racism. None of them work 100% but theyre better than nothing.
1. Assimilate: get coaching on the difficult job of conforming to the white male norm in a non-threatening but confident manner.
2. Withdraw: self-employment, employment in a minority-run company, or a job that involves minimal social contact with transparently merit-based progression.
3. Fight: try to change the rules and raise awareness of institutionalized racism, help other people as well as yourself.
I think a mix is necessary. Only the very strongest people can use a Fight approach consistently without cracking under the pressure.
THOSE ARE GREAT IDEAS – BUT I THINK BEING A BLACK PERSON IN CORPORATE AMERICA OR BEING IN BUSINESS FOR YOURSELF IS GREAT – AMERICA IS THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY – WE AS AA GET STRENGTH AND PERSERVERENCE FROM ALL OF THIS. IT IS NOT REALLY A BIG DEAL IN GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS
THERE IS TOO MUCH MONEY IN THIS WORLD JUST TO WORRY ABOUT WHAT GOES ON IN THE US –
THERE IS NO CRACKING UNDER PRESSURE – THAT IS AN EXCUSE AND COP OUT – JUST LIKE BLAMING EVERYTHING ON RACISM OR SEXISM
Personally, I don’t believe that “assimilation” and “conforming” to the white male norm is really necessary in order to gain advancement in the work place. I think that it really begins with what the individual brings to the table. And, it ends with that individual’s ability to filter out external conditions.
EXTERNAL CONDITIONS like racism, sexism, crabism(The Bucket Syndrome).
During my work history, I can honestly say that I’ve never been passed over for a promotion because of my ethnic background or lack of “group” affiliation. But, I have been most definitely ATTACKED in the work place because of my ethnic background and lack of “group” affiliation.
I’m a black man born and raised in the South. But, many people have told me that after meeting me they would have never guessed that I was Southern. They say this because I have no discernable accent. I’ve always been labeled because of this. In and out of the work place. I guess it’s just difficult for some people to assign some type of affiliation to me based on my speech pattern.
When I was seventeen, I joined the Army after high school graduation. I spent two years with a Long Range Surveillance Unit and two years with an infantry company in the 82nd Airborne Division. After the Army, I attended a large public university and graduated. Then I joined the “nine to five” work force. In the work force, I’ve experienced all kinds of confrontations with co-workers and supervisors because of my military background. I’ve been called “brainwashed”, “robot”, “non-thinker”, “warmonger”, “abortion clinic bomber”, etc. All in the work place. Why? All because I didn’t join the Army for college money and the travel plan. I joined because I just felt that it was good to serve my country. Hmmm, imagine that.
I’ve made trips out of town with white male co-workers on business, and at breakfast or on our way to meetings, I would have to listen to the play-by-play version of their late night “hookup” sessions with the local prostitutes in what ever city we were visiting. According to them, these prostitutes where always “women of color”, as they would say. They always made a point of telling me how much “hot chocolate” that they got the night before, and what was the best way to “control” a black woman!
Those situations always ended in a confrontation. Sometimes very heated because I wouldn’t just sit there and allow them to insult black women or black people in general in my presence.
I didn’t mind the confrontations because I’ve never been one to back down from one. But, if anyone wants a high level of success in any field, start by developing THICK SKIN!
I’ve also been confronted in the work place by “black” employees. Those confrontations took place because of my speech pattern, because I don’t dress “urban” and because I attended an “all white” university. According to them, I missed out on my “culture” because I didn’t attend an HBCU and I don’t wear RoccaWear and Akademics gear!
Culture?
I received seventeen years worth of Black American culture from my parents before I left their house. I was exposed to Black American culture by my grandparents, as well. Grandparents who could trace the family lineage back to slavery. My paternal grandmother would always tell me stories about how her grandmother was born on New Year’s Day, 1863. That’s a very significant date in the history of black people in America. I listened as she told me how her grandma was the first one in our family to be born “free” in this country. She would show me an old Bible given to her by her mother. In this Bible our entire family history was recorded. Ever birth, marriage and passing! She would tell me to always remember these things, and my people, especially the old ones.
But, according to my black co-workers, I didn’t know my culture because I never witnessed the battle of the bands at the Southern Classic! Yeah, okay.
As for academic record comparison. I would tell them that I would stack my “all white” college transcript next to their HBCU transcript any day!
I’ve observed how ALL kinds of cliques and “groups” marginalize others in the work place. I’ve seen the NASCAR clique force employees out the door. I’ve seen how the Sons of Confederate Veterans operate, the good ole boy clique at work, the HBCU clique “crabbing” and hating on those that do not share their version of black culture, etc. And I’ve never conformed to any of them. I don’t fit into any group. I’m just….me.
I’ve worked for the same company for eight years, and I’ve been promoted everytime I’ve applied. The last promotion I received was first brought to my attention by the office manager. I didn’t know that the position was available until he stopped by my office and told me that it was. He told me that I should apply because I was certainly qualified. I applied and I got the promotion. I was actually surprised that he stopped by and told me about that position.
Finding your way in the work force can be a tremendous fight sometimes, but you just have to keep focusing. Even if you get passed over, stay focused. What goes around in life comes right back around. This is even true in your working life.
I feel that advancement is all about work ethic, working relationships with others, experience and the ability to just hang tough!
When you go in for an interview, you want to stand out from the other applicants. If you are just another face in the crowd, your resume could end up in the recycle bin!
If you don’t want to “blend in” during the interview process, why would you want to “conform” to the white male norms if and when you get hired?
Well said, Victor. Well said.
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