Salient to Investors:
Nancy DiTomaso at Rutgers said:
You cannot network with those you don’t know, and racial inequality in the job market is not so much about discrimination as it is about favoritism.
People hire people like themselves, meaning whites hire other whites. People essentially get jobs because other people who are like them help them get those jobs. 70 percent of the jobs that people got over their lifetimes included extra help like this: getting information that others did not have, having someone use influence on their behalf, or someone who could actually offer them a job.
Whites already hold the best jobs: those with the most training, the highest income, jobs more likely to make the decisions about who gets hired.
Over time there has been a re-segregation of some jobs, and certainly of housing and of education.
Companies reproduce the existing workforce, because employees will likely recommend those that are like themselves. If you hire from a broader range of people, the chances are that in fact you can hire a higher-quality workforce and that you can get a broader range of skills.
Many very large companies are primarily growing abroad.
People primarily got jobs by someone helping them yet believe they got to where they are because they worked hard, were motivated, persisted and were so smart.
Everyone says they are committed to equal opportunity, but in fact spend their lives seeking unequal opportunity.
Public policies that pay attention to objective criteria in terms of the job requirements and how people are selected for jobs have eroded over time.
Watch the video at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/interviews/sociologist-nancy-ditomaso/ or read the full transcript at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/interviews/sociologist-nancy-ditomaso/