Do you know someone who has helped you get a job? Family, friends, acquaintances? If you’re white, well, that means you’re a raaaaacist
How Social Networks Drive Black Unemployment
It’s easy to believe the worst is over in the economic downturn (why, is Obama going to resign?). But for African-Americans, the pain continues — over 13 percent of black workers are unemployed, nearly twice the national average. And that’s not a new development: regardless of the economy, job prospects for African-Americans have long been significantly worse than for the country as a whole.
The most obvious explanation for this entrenched disparity is racial discrimination. But in my research I have found a somewhat different culprit: favoritism. Getting an inside edge by using help from family and friends is a powerful, hidden force driving inequality in the United States.
Such favoritism has a strong racial component. Through such seemingly innocuous networking, white Americans tend to help other whites, because social resources are concentrated among whites. If African-Americans are not part of the same networks, they will have a harder time finding decent jobs.
So, because Uncle Joe knows a guy working for a tech company, which offers you a position, that’s raaaaacist.
There’s no question that discrimination is still a problem in the American economy. But whites helping other whites is not the same as discrimination, and it is not illegal. Yet it may have a powerful effect on the access that African-Americans and other minorities have to good jobs, or even to the job market itself.
So, it’s not discrimination, and it’s not illegal. Interesting. The entire article was premised on obtaining a job based on who you know and them being the same race (primarily white) was deemed discrimination and racism.
