Do the Determinants of Promotion Differ for Blacks and Whites?

Abstract

A central assumption of much of the previous research on race differences is that the process by which Blacks and Whites advance in the workplace is race blind so that if Blacks and Whites had the same amount of education and job experience and were located across the same bureaucratized structures, the gap in Black-White attainment in the workplace would disappear. The authors argue that to understand the systematic differences in Black-White outcomes in the workplace, we need to reexamine this assumption. The authors develop a theoretical argument for the existence of race-specific models of attainment that builds on Kanter's concept of “homosocial reproduction.” They then test this argument by estimating whether the determinants of promotion differ by race, using a nationally representative sample of U.S. workers and their employing organizations. Their findings indicate that the determinants of promotion systematically differ for Blacks and Whites.

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