Race and Employment

Many people who arent affected tend to brush off racial bias as a factor in employment.

The argument tends to be along the lines of denial due to the fact that racial discrimination in

the hiring process is illegal, while this may be illegal, favoritism is not. While favoritism doesn’t

actively go out and exclude certain groups, it does include certain groups more than others,

meaning from a racial standpoint, white people hire and help other white people because they

see themselves in them. Because of this ongoing pattern, we also tend to see white people in

these positions in which they get to make the decision.

Social networks play a huge role in this favoritism phenomenon, people tend to hire

people who they have more social ties to, whether that is that they grew up in the same

neighborhood, or have family or friend connections. The way in which our cities are structured

creates racially divided social networks, meaning white people are connected to mostly other

white people meaning when a white person is hiring, these white people they know are going to

be the ones that receive help.

Many people are unaware or deny the social privileges and connections they have

received throughout their lives to help them within their career. This doesn’t surprise me

because people tend to overlook the help they have received because they are blinded by their

own pride and hard work. Since white people never have to face racism at that level, they don’t

even consider it to be a factor.

This article reflects the myth of meritocracy and how people tend to only recognize

themselves for their hard work and intelligence and not the social networks they have backing

them up. Someone who might be a lot more qualified for a job and have more merit than the

competitor might not get the job due to the fact that the competitor might have grown up in the

same neighborhood as the interviewer.

 I think social networks play the biggest role in how our life path plans out, however this

creates an unfair game. It becomes less about hard work or qualification and more about who

you happen to know or your life circumstances. People who grow up in lower income areas,

people of color, or people with social disabilities are far less likely to receive opportunities

because of this. Unless we take affirmative action in the form of hiring POC into these positions

of power to hire people from their own social networks.