Institutional Discrimination In The Workplace

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1. My findings from this week’s readings are pretty similar to my findings from last week’s readings. Both readings from this week and last week discuss the detrimental effects of institutional discrimination and structural discrimination. Institutional discrimination was discussed in last week’s readings in which it was defined as biased judgment in organizations in which specific groups do not have the same opportunities to progress (Chima and Wharton, p. 3). This relates to this week’s reading wherein black workers do not have equal opportunities to get hired. Discrimination based on black sounding names versus white sounding names makes it extremely difficult for African Americans to gain employment (Bertrand and Mullainathan, p. 3). This …show more content…
In the article "Black Employment, Segregation, and the Social Organization of Metropolitan Labor Markets,” the author uses evidence to back up her main point that residential segregation affects employment. Dickerson, the author, concludes that industrial composition, the concentration of minority populations, immigration, group skill levels, and spatial mismatch are the evidence that support residential segregation affecting employment (Dickerson, p. 283). The industrial structure is thought to hinder employment for African Americans due to the shaping of employment opportunities (Dickerson, p. 285). The structure of industry allows for biasness against African Americans because work is not as accessible to them because of discrimination. Minority population concentration makes it difficult to find employment because there are only so many jobs available across a few industries. Where there is a large concentration of minorities, there is evidence of how minorities’ access to employment is inadequate (Dickerson, p. 288). This is due to a large amount of distance between concentrations of minorities and places of work. Immigration, group skill levels, and spatial mismatches are all support the notion that residential segregation affects employment. Immigrants tend to flock to urban centers in which the skill levels are low as this further secludes them (Dickerson, p. 289). Therefore, when a large sum of people is so concentrated in a small space where jobs are already limited, it creates a bad situation for employment. Institutional discrimination is exemplified when companies do not want to hire black men and immigrants because they lack the opportunity to get hired. Companies should be looking to diversify their workers by providing outreach to black communities. Black people are so concentrated in small geographic areas that it makes the job market very competitive for jobs that are not that great. Structural discrimination is exemplified by the fact that