Race- and Class-Based Discrimination in the U.S. Labor Market

美国劳动力市场中的种族和阶级歧视

• 批准号: 1729891
• 负责人: Kyla Thomas
• 金额: $ 23.5万
• 依托单位: University of Southern California
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-07-01 至 2021-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1729891&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Race; Class; Based; Discrimination; U.S.

Racial discrimination remains one of the most formidable obstacles to labor market equality in the United States. Black men are only half as likely as white men with similar qualifications to receive a callback for a job interview and they earn just 70 percent of the median income of their white counterparts. The challenge for researchers and policymakers is to understand why employers discriminate against black job applicants. To account for this discrimination, sociologists typically point to racial animus and/or stereotyping on the part of employers. Often overlooked are the subtle forms of class bias also encountered by black Americans as they apply for jobs. In the U.S., conceptions of race and social class are deeply intertwined. Qualitative studies show employers' negative expectations for black Americans often are predicated on the assumption they are lower class; i.e., they have limited access to material and symbolic resources like income, education and high culture. However, whether patterns of racial discrimination intersect with class-based discrimination and may partially explained job discrimination is yet to be demonstrated. The social science literature continues to ignore what may be a key source of racial inequality in the U.S. This project aims to address this gap in current theory and research through a field-experimental study of the social class biases that drive racial discrimination in U.S. employment.This study has three specific research aims. First, it aims to measure whether the racial gap in rates of employer callback diminishes when job applicants signal near-identical (higher or lower) class origins in their résumés. Second, it aims to measure whether the racial gap in callback rates diminishes to a greater degree among women signaling a similar class origin than among men. Third, it aims to measure whether the racial gap in callback rates varies according to the higher- or lower-class origins signaled by applicants in their résumés. To address these research aims, the Principal Investigator will conduct a computerized, résumé-based audit study of employment discrimination in the United States, sending 8,000 fictitious résumés and cover letters to apply for 4,000 job openings in 12 major cities. Employers will be sent, a day apart, two résumés: one résumé signaling that the applicant is black and one résumé signaling that the applicant is white. Both résumés will signal the same gender and the same social-class origin: a higher-class origin, a lower-class origin, or a control origin (with no explicit class signal). Similarity in class origin will be signaled through likenesses in the (1) extracurricular activities and (2) college awards applicants list in their résumés. The Principal Investigator will then track employers' responses to the submitted résumés and, based on these replies, measure how rates of employer callback for white and black applicants vary according to the class signals included in their résumés.

种族歧视仍然是美国劳动力市场平等的最大障碍之一。黑人男性获得工作面试回电的可能性只有具有类似资格的白人男性的一半，而且他们的收入仅为白人男性中位数收入的 70%。研究人员和政策制定者面临的挑战是了解雇主为何歧视黑人求职者。为了解释这种歧视，社会学家通常将矛头指向雇主的种族敌意和/或成见。美国黑人在求职时也遇到了微妙的阶级偏见，这一点常常被忽视。在美国，种族和社会阶层的概念紧密相连。定性研究表明，雇主对美国黑人的负面期望往往是基于他们属于下层阶级的假设；也就是说，他们获得收入、教育和高雅文化等物质和象征资源的机会有限。 然而，种族歧视模式是否与基于阶级的歧视相互交叉以及是否可以部分解释工作歧视尚待证实。社会科学文献仍然忽视了美国种族不平等的一个关键根源。该项目旨在通过对导致美国就业中种族歧视的社会阶级偏见进行现场实验研究，来解决当前理论和研究中的这一差距。这项研究有三个具体的研究目标。 首先，它的目的是衡量当求职者在简历中表明几乎相同（较高或较低）的阶级出身时，雇主回调率的种族差距是否会缩小。其次，它的目的是衡量回拨率的种族差距是否在表明阶级出身相似的女性中比男性更大程度地缩小。第三，它的目的是衡量回调率的种族差距是否根据申请人在简历中表明的较高或较低阶级出身而变化。 为了实现这些研究目标，首席研究员将对美国的就业歧视进行计算机化、基于简历的审计研究，发送 8,000 份虚假简历和求职信，以申请 12 个主要城市的 4,000 个职位空缺。雇主将每隔一天收到两份简历：一份简历表明申请人是黑人，另一份简历表明申请人是白人。两份简历都将表明相同的性别和相同的社会阶层出身：较高阶层出身、较低阶层出身或控制出身（没有明确的阶层信号）。班级出身的相似性将通过简历中 (1) 课外活动和 (2) 大学奖项申请者名单的相似性来体现。然后，首席研究员将跟踪雇主对提交的简历的回复，并根据这些回复，根据简历中包含的类别信号来衡量雇主对白人和黑人申请人的回访率有何不同。