The Discrimination System: Race and Public Policy Barbara Reskin Department of Sociology University of Washington, Seattle January 3, 2004

The Discrimination System:

Race and Public Policy

Barbara ReskinDepartment of SociologyUniversity of Washington, Seattle

January 3, 2004

Heuristic Model of System Analysis

Subsystem A

Subsystem D

Subsystem C

Subsystem B

Neighborhood Segregation

School Segregation

Disparities in Access to Higher Education

Racial Stigma

Labor Market Disparities

Disparities in Economic Status

Disparities in Test Performance

Disparities in Criminal Justice

• Detroit 85• New York 82 • Milwaukee 82• Chicago 81• Newark 80• Cleveland 77• Miami 74• Indianapolis 71• Kansas City 69• Los Angeles 66• Atlanta 65• South Africa under apartheid: 92.5

Indices of Black-White Segregation, 2000

Mortgage-Market Discrimination


Disparate Economic Resources

Housing Market Discrimination

Neighborhood Segregation Subsystem

Opposition to Black Neighbors

Location of Public Housing

Zoning Decisions

Housing Market Discrimination

• 13% of black testers posing as house buyers were offered assistance in mortgage lending, compared with 24% of white testers.

• Hispanics who asked about unadvertised units were 8 percentage points more likely to be steered toward relatively low-income neighborhoods than their Anglo counterparts

• Blacks were quoted higher rents than whites for the same unit.

The Economist, June 1998


School Segregation

Racial stigma

Job segregation

Property values; community power

Achievement test scores

Effects of Neighborhood Segregation

Exposure to crime; arrest

Transportation and other public services


School Segregation


Racial Stigma





Trends in School Segregation: Percentage of Students of Color in

Predominantly-Minority Elementary and Secondary Schools

1968 1969 1980 1999

Blacks 77% 62% 70%

Hispanics 55% 75%

In predominantly-white suburban schools, advanced placement courses are universal.

In poor and minority neighborhoods, only 43 percent of high schools offer AP classes

AP Classes by Race

National Center for Educational Statistics 2000

Number of Students per 1000 Who Took AP Exams, by Race, 1984-1997

1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 19970

40

20

60

80

100

120

140

In an experiment in which teachers gave performance feedback to students whom they could not see, the teachers gave less positive feedback after correct responses, briefer feedback for mistakes, and less coaching to students whom they believed to be black than they did for student whom they thought were white.

R. Ferguson 1998:294.

Unequal Treatment in the Classroom


School Segregation


Racial Stigma





If just one white in seven treats African Americans unfairly because of their race, there would be one actively discriminating white for every black person in America.

Fischer et al. 1996:183.

The Likelihood of Encountering Discrimination When You’re

Outnumbered

According to an experiment on the performance of white and black varsity athletes, when the experimenters told the athletes that miniature golf tested athletic ability, the black athletes outscored the whites; when they told the athletes that miniature golf tested athletic intelligence, the white athletes outscored the blacks.

Stone et al. 1999

Stereotype Threat

College Attendance by Race (1990s)

White 45 36 36

Black 36 43 30

Hispanic 35 57 22

% HS grads in college

% college students @ community colleges

% students @ colleges with mean SATs > 1000

Jacobs 1996

Percentage of Students Earning BAs at Schools with at Least Half

Minority Students (1993)

Black

Asian

Hispanic

32

7

34

Race Percentage


School Segregation


Racial Stigma





Family Economics and College Admission

Academic Criteria What Money Can Buy

Class rank, GPA Tutoring

Standardized test scores Prep class up to $1K$60 per shot

Personal essay Professional editor

Recommendations Professional editorFamily social ties

Family Economics and College Admission

Nonacademic Criteria What Money Can Buy Musical, athletic “talent” Private lessons,

equipment“Character” (volunteers) No part-time jobExtracurricular activities No part-time jobInteresting experiences Unpaid internships

Travel abroad Campus interview Travel expensesIn-state tuition $3000-$10,000Donations to institution 6-figure donations Legacy status Family members alumni


School Segregation


Racial Stigma





Hiring Discrimination

• In more than 2,000 audits, employers discriminated against minorities between 20 and 25 percent of the time

• Employers favored whites in invitations to interview, job offers, compensation, job assignments, and information about unadvertised opportunities

Fix, Galster, & Struyk; Kenney & Wissoker, 1994.


Faxed applications from “applicants” with names like Kristin, Meredith, Brad and Jay to employers that had advertised for entry-level jobs were 50 percent more likely to be called by employers than applications signed by people with names like Lakisha, Tamika, Rasheed, and Darnell.

Bertrand and Mullainathan 2002

Unemployment by Race and Sex, 2002

Adult Adult Teens Men Women

White 14.1 5.0 4.2 Black 28.2 10.0 8.9

Current Population Survey, 2003

Labor Force Participation by Sex and Race (in percent)

Teens Men Women

White 47 60 77

Black 29 64 72

Current Population Survey, 2003

Indices of Occupational Segregation with Same-Sex European-Ancestry Whites

African Americans 30-35

Mexican Americans 32-40

Southeast Asians 44-45

Occupational Segregation

Non-Hispanic white 41,400 30,890

African American 32,257 27,351

Hispanic 26,493 22,192

U.S. Bureau of the Census 2003

2002 Median Earnings by Race and Sex for Full-Time Year-Round Workers

Men Women

Numbers (in 1000s) of Black and White Males Incarcerated in Federal

and State Prisons and Jails

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1985 1990 1995 2000

Black Males

White Males


School Segregation


Racial Stigma






Milwaukee employers preferred white applicants to matched black applicants, and applicants without prison records to applicants with records. But they preferred white applicants with a prison record to matched black applicants who had no prison record.

Pager, American Journal of Sociology 2003


School Segregation


Racial Stigma





Middle-class blacks . . . earn seventy cents for every dollar earned by middle-class whites, but they possess only fifteen cents for every dollar of wealth held by middle-class whites.

Black Wealth/White Wealth , Melvin Oliver and Thomas M. Shapiro

Disparities in Wealth

Black-White School Segregation in the South: Percentage of Black Students in

Majority-White Schools, 1958-1998

0

10

20

30

40

1954 1960 1964 1967 1968 1970 1972 1976 1980 1986 1988 1991 1994 1996 1999 2002

Source: Orfield, 2003.

77,444 cases filed

EEOC dropped 68,000 charges

8248 cases resolved through

conciliation

431 filed in court

EEOC: no cause8,248

2040 resolved for complainant

< 100 settled for

complainant

ca. 338 dismissed

< 100 go to trial

< 50 win at trial

EEOC CHARGE HANDLING PROCESS


School Segregation

Higher Education

Racial Stigma

Labor Markets

Economic Standing and Social Status

Discrimination laws,

affirmative actionFair Housing

Acts

Minimum wage

laws, pay

discrimination

Busing

Affirm

ative

action Brown v. Bd. of Educ.

Remedies for Discrimination Subsystems

Public assistance

CETA, JTPA

Section 8 Housing

Criminal Justice

Automatic Sentencing

Documents

The Discrimination System: Race and Public Policy Barbara Reskin Department of Sociology University of Washington, Seattle January 3, 2004