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

种族歧视仍然是美国劳动力市场平等的最大障碍之一。黑人男性获得面试回调的几率只有同等资历的白人男性的一半，他们的收入也只有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理解雇主歧视黑人求职者的原因。为了解释这种歧视，社会学家通常指出雇主的种族敌意和/或刻板印象。经常被忽视的是，美国黑人在申请工作时也会遇到微妙的阶级偏见。在美国，种族和社会阶层的概念是紧密交织在一起的。定性研究表明，雇主对美国黑人的负面期望往往建立在他们属于较低阶层的假设之上；也就是说，他们获得收入、教育和高雅文化等物质和象征性资源的机会有限。然而，种族歧视的模式是否与基于阶级的歧视交叉，并可能部分解释工作歧视，还有待证明。社会科学文献继续忽视可能是美国种族不平等的关键来源。本项目旨在通过对推动美国就业中种族歧视的社会阶级偏见的实地实验研究，解决当前理论和研究中的这一差距。本研究有三个具体的研究目的。首先，它的目的是衡量当求职者在他们的履历中表明几乎相同（更高或更低）的阶级出身时，雇主回调率的种族差距是否会缩小。其次，它的目的是衡量回调率的种族差距在女性中是否比在男性中更大程度地缩小，这表明女性的阶级起源相似。第三，它的目的是衡量回调率的种族差异是否会根据申请人在其履历中所显示的较高或较低的阶级出身而有所不同。为了达到这些研究目的，首席研究员将对美国的就业歧视进行计算机化的、以薪金为基础的审计研究，发送8 000份虚构的薪金和求职信，申请12个主要城市的4 000个职位空缺。雇主将会收到两份简历，间隔一天：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。这两种rims都表明了相同的性别和相同的社会阶级起源：一个较高的阶级起源，一个较低的阶级起源，或者一个对照的起源（没有明确的阶级信号）。班级出身的相似性将通过(1)课外活动的相似性和(2)大学奖励申请名单中的相似性来表示。然后，首席研究员将跟踪雇主对所提交的履历的回应，并根据这些回复，衡量雇主对白人和黑人申请人的回调率是如何根据履历中包含的阶级信号而变化的。

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.