Occupational Mobility Among African-Americans: Assimilation or Resegregation

Abstract

Economic mobility among African Americans and the persistence of inequality both seem to be best explained by nonracial factors such as educational attainment on the one hand and, on the other, the erosion of race-linked bias in the culture and structure of employment. This chapter calls into question these interpretations by illustrating recialized patterns of job allocation. Put another way, it illustrates divisions of labor that are sensitive to race. Here I suggest that discrimination and opportunity can occur in the same historical instance. The post industrial and post civil rights U.S. labor market requires research to look beneath occupational categories to fully uncover what roles that race now plays.