Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- PART I CURRENT APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF CAREERS
- Introduction to Part I
- 1 Generating new directions in career theory: the case for a transdisciplinary approach
- 2 Trait-factor theories: traditional cornerstone of career theory
- 3 Careers, identities, and institutions: the legacy of the Chicago School of Sociology
- 4 The utility of adult development theory in understanding career adjustment process
- 5 Developmental views of careers in organizations
- 6 Exploring women's development: implications for career theory, practice, and research
- 7 The influence of race on career dynamics: theory and research on minority career experiences
- 8 Asynchronism in dual-career and family linkages
- 9 Transitions, work histories, and careers
- 10 Career system profiles and strategic staffing
- PART II NEW IDEAS FOR THE STUDY OF CAREERS
- PART III FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAREER THEORY
- Name index
- Subject index
7 - The influence of race on career dynamics: theory and research on minority career experiences
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- PART I CURRENT APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF CAREERS
- Introduction to Part I
- 1 Generating new directions in career theory: the case for a transdisciplinary approach
- 2 Trait-factor theories: traditional cornerstone of career theory
- 3 Careers, identities, and institutions: the legacy of the Chicago School of Sociology
- 4 The utility of adult development theory in understanding career adjustment process
- 5 Developmental views of careers in organizations
- 6 Exploring women's development: implications for career theory, practice, and research
- 7 The influence of race on career dynamics: theory and research on minority career experiences
- 8 Asynchronism in dual-career and family linkages
- 9 Transitions, work histories, and careers
- 10 Career system profiles and strategic staffing
- PART II NEW IDEAS FOR THE STUDY OF CAREERS
- PART III FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAREER THEORY
- Name index
- Subject index
Summary
This chapter is concerned with understanding how race and race relations influence career dynamics. Statistics on the occupational status of racial minority groups suggest that race is a strong predictor of position in the labor market and career patterns. According to U.S. 1983 Census Bureau statistics, blacks made up 4.7% of U.S. executives, administrators and managers, and Hispanics constituted 2.8% of this group. The majority of people from both ethnic groups in this job category are located in the public sector. In 1980, the unemployment rate for racial minorities was twice that of whites. The median family income of blacks in 1980 was 57% that of whites. Studies of upward mobility show that white males in low-paying positions are significantly more likely than minority males to advance to positions that pay a middle-class wage (Pomer, 1986). According to a U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report (1980), Asian Americans are underrepresented in managerial and administrative occupations, while they are represented in professional positions at a higher rate than in the population at large.
Since the passage of the U.S. Civil Rights Act in 1964, behavioral science has looked at the relationships between race and work through a number of disciplinary lenses, especially those of economics, sociology and psychology. Economics has focused on issues of pay and labor market activity and sociology on the related issues of status attainment and stratification. These literatures constitute a significant and well-developed body of theory about discrimination (Almquist, 1979; Lester, 1980; Lundahl and Wadensjo, 1984; Pascal, 1972).
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- Information
- Handbook of Career Theory , pp. 133 - 158Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989
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