lonczak-blog

[lonczak-blog]

Hey

throughout your entire blog I think you raise a really good point about the lack of opportunity and funding that is present in these low income communities. There are also many theories that can be attributed to why these kids don���t get either the same opportunity or just the same education in general. I will not cover them because you do a wonderful job of displaying how in the US these poor communities are a result of racist policies and all around poor treatment of the minority. There is one thing though that I wish you would acknowledge exists and that is a lack of effort on behalf of the students. The blame for the low performing school cannot solely be placed on the government. certainly a lot of it can be because it is true. My question is what are the students doing to help themselves. You said it your self that its assumed these kids aren’t going to the library on there own. In our society there will always be someone at the bottom of the barrel that is just the way this system works, its not the best and it is sad but it is a truth. There is a video that enjoy watching because it puts many things in perspective for students (video at the top). Ask yourself did i ever put in 100 percent effort or did i get carried at certain points? For these kids they get carried when they shouldn’t be which could explain at least partially why the perform so bad. What i am essentially arguing is that yes you are correct that the government can and absolutely should bare some of blame for the poor performance. But on the other hand so should the students because they are not investing in there own education and they are not actively looking to better themselves. Some do and some get out (which makes for a great story) but many don’t. Overall nice work I enjoyed your perspective. 

Higher demand, lower supply

Along the lines of the Brown ruling’s legacy, Lyndsey Layton wrote an article for The Washington Post exposing the reality that “a majority of U.S. public school students come from low-income families, according to a new analysis of 2013 federal data, a statistic that has profound implications for the nation” (2015). With so many children in need of more than their daily lessons, teachers are being strained to act as a “counselor, therapist, doctor, parent, attorney” for their students (2015). She goes on to explain that schools are pressured to increase their test results, but trying to get disadvantaged students to perform at the level of their affluent counterparts is challenging enough, never mind meeting higher standards (2015). It makes sense that schools are struggling: students with limited backgrounds are coming into school far behind their advantaged counterparts who have a surplus of opportunities outside of the classroom that some are totally unaware of. Carey Wright, the state superintendent of Mississippi, is quoted in the article saying, “you can’t assume they have books at home, or they visit the library or go on vacations. You have to think about what you’re doing across the state and ensuring they’re getting what other children get” (2015). As this research turns political, it is important to consider the cost of each pupil which varies by state. Conservatives are in favor of school voucher programs, which allow parents the option of sending their children to private schools, rather than investing in public schools (2015). The issue of school quality may not be so simple as to be resolved with school vouchers though, what about mental and physical health care, parent involvement, and other services that schools can provide to students?

[lonczak-blog]

Hi Selena

I think that this post is very engaging and offers a perspective that many on the right including myself in some instances are willing to over look for the sake of national security. I really wish you defined nationalism in this blog instead of one of the other ones. It is really important in this one to differentiate between the two and you did that really well in the other blog so good job on that. As someone who family came from eastern Europe (German polish line and Belarussian/ polish line) I understand why your asking why we don’t acknowledge threats from them. There are many reasons why we don’t look at them as threats. These reasons could have an entire book about them. Some of it has to do with tribalism, some of it has to do with historical context (Remember the Irish were the first persecuted group that immigrated to America). Other reasons include international diplomacy and current relations between “democratic” governments. The list goes on. It will take time for people to get used to Hispanics coming to America because we are still not overly used to it and you are correct that we are defensive of our home land but my question for you is why shouldn’t you be? There is such a thing as too much and that is currently the line that we have to find. lastly I would like to approach your targets of our bad feelings towards groups of immigrants. We care about who we let into this country for security purposes. I think that both you and me would agree that 99 percent of immigrants both illegal and legal are good hearted people. For me i am worried about the one percent that is bad. We focus on hispanics because most people believe that they are a bunch of drug smugglers. we focus on the middle east because we are in a “war” against radical factions. Historically speaking we still don’t like the chinese coming here because they have a communist background. Japan is one of our best allies and they have never given us any reason for alarm past WWII because they are not allowed to have a standing army. We are still weary of Russians and Chechen's. Ultimately there are a lot of variables to be considered in the immigration discussion. you did a good job of displaying the evidence for your perspective. Nice work. 

The Perceived Threat of Immigrants

How can we decide who is worthy of coming into the United States? There has always been so much discord on who is worthy and also who does and does not present an imminent threat to our nation. Unfortunately, there are some people that make rash and hasty judgements about immigrants, but it seems it is only immigrants that pose some type of threat. The nationality of an immigrant matters. In a study conducted by Brader et al., there are many cues that lead to the image or perception that most Americans have about immigration and how these cues ultimately lead to negative attitudes. Brader et al. tells us that negative attitudes towards immigrants can “depend” on where that immigrant comes from (Brader et al. 2008). Therefore, the race or ethnicity of an immigrant determines whether an immigrant will be welcomed into America. Middle Eastern and Latin American immigrants are seen as “criminals”, and yet what about European and Asian immigrants? Do they have a superior status, or are they not threatening to America and our values? Although this project is about the negative attitudes towards immigrants in general, there should be more research towards European immigrants and why they do not pose threats to most Americans. Could it be because of their fair complexion or because they seem similar? Besides ethnicity “depending” on if there is a true threat,  emotions  and social cues such as the media also play a factor into whether or not one feels threatened by an immigrant (Brader et al. 2008). If one sees a disturbing image or video of an immigrant and that evokes anxiety within a person, then negative connotations will be reinforced about immigrants (Brader et al. 2008).  It seems just morally wrong for one to stereotype a group of people just based on a picture or a news story on the media. Some aspects of the media itself is like a biased beast, giving hurtful, misconstrued news.

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Introduction to Labor Market Discrimination

Labor Market Discrimination is alive and well in America or is it? There have been many studies about labor market discrimination and its profound influence in minorities looking for work but there are also some that say these studies are not looking at the whole picture. Before we get into the studies and how they affect minorities it is important to know that much progress has been made in the labor market discrimination discussion but there is still a long way to go before the United States gets where it wants to be. The labor market in America is vast and full of opportunity. In this blog I look to find the answer to how someone with a perceived black, Hispanic, or Asian name compares with someone in the labor market who is perceived to be white. I will also look at how being incarcerated influences your possible work outcomes and I will then tie the perceived race and the criminal record findings to make a final assessment on whether labor market discrimination does actually have a profound effect on peoples lives.  

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Studies to be Covered

In this blog I will be discussing 4 studies done about labor market discrimination. I will be covering Devah Pagers article on labor markets for those with criminal records. Then Bertrand and Mullianathans study on perceived race and its impact in the labor market market. followed by another Devah pager study done that will be supplemented with two other studies that include possible Hispanic discrimination as well. The second to last study to be discussed will be about the practice of resume whitening. The last study will be from a professor from Harvard who challenges the idea that your name will affect the outcome of your life. 

After there will be a summery of what this blog has said and the implications of the studies. Lastly before the conclusion will be policy implications and possible ways to move forward in the hopes of eliminating bias in the labor marker. In the conclusion I will once again briefly summarize and pose remaining questions that I feel need to be addressed or that future studies should also consider addressing. 

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Mark of a Criminal Man Study

Mark of a Criminal Man by Devah Pager is a study that suggests that men who are white and have a criminal record have a higher likely hood of getting a call a back for a job than a black man with no criminal record. Devah Pagers Study is what is called an audit study. Which means that her work was designed to test potential discrimination in the labor market. 

Why:

African Americans in this country have been the victims of rather harsh sentencing laws and while the ideas behind the laws may or may not have had a discriminatory intent the enforcement behind the laws most certainly did. This study relates to men who have a criminal record and why it might be hard for them to get a job after being released. The other reason why create this study is because it is hard for ex felons to get jobs simply because of their records. In fact many times as soon as the ex felon checks the box on the application that says he or she has been convicted for a felony there job prospects begin to fly away. There is an initiative called ban the box that wants employers to get rid of the felony question on the job application. This project is designed to help ex felons get at least to the interview stage where they can at least explain their convictions in person if asked by the employer.

Suspected Outcomes:

Going into this study one would expect the two people with a criminal record to be getting less call back than the people without the criminal record. The reason for this is because most people would not want to hire  someone who is potentially at risk for re offending. This logic makes sense given that most people would be worry some to hire an ex-felon even if the person technically served their time.

The Study:

Devah Pagers study used 4 student “testers”. Two white students and two black students (all 4 students had clean records before the experiment). The students were then randomly assigned felony records and every week the students switched to control for differences in style of how they interview (Pager, 2003). The students then proceeded to begin filling out job applications by the end of the study the two white students completed 150 audits and the black students 200 (Pager, 2003). What this study found is not only astonishing but rather disappointing as well. 

The Results:

This is the highlight of what this study has come to be known for. The numbers are rather discouraging. Lets look at the student with the criminal records first. It should come as no surprise that the students who “have a criminal record” have a lower percentage call back (Pager, 2003). This makes sense given the risk that the potential employer takes on when hiring an ex felon. Like wise it also makes sense that the students without a felony record have a higher chance to get a call back than those with a record of the same race. The numbers that are scathing is that in this study the students who are white and have a criminal record have a better chance of getting a call back than those who are black and have no criminal record (Pager, 2003).

2009:

In 2009 Devah pager also completed another study of the same caliber. Except this time instead of taking place in Milwaukee she did it in New City and to further her study she added Hispanics to the mix and what she found is that Hispanics are less likely to get a call back for a job than a white person but still more likely to get a call back than a black person with the same resume (Pager, Western, Bonikowski; 2009) . We discuss this study further along in a separate post as it will be supplemented with 2 other studies.  

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Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination

This study is about someones perceived race and how a potential employers own biases towards a race can prohibit them from hiring someone. 

Marianne Bertrand

Sendhill Mullianathan

Why:

One of the main questions that this piece answers is whether being perceived as white will affect your job outlook.This study is important because Americans always preach about equal opportunity yet much like Devah Pagers study we learn that this is not overly true. 

The Study:

Does your name matter? There are two sides to this argument. The first side argues that this study proves complete labor market discrimination based on race in both Chicago and Boston (Where the study was done) (Bertrand and Mullianathan, 2004). The other side of the argument is asking the question why did Brad get more call backs than Todd or why were there certain black sounding names that did better at callbacks than white sounding names. Before I touch on both arguments I will briefly summarize there study.

The study found the names for the applicants by using name frequency data between 1974 and 1979 (Bertrand and Mullianathan, 2004). Then with the found names the creators of the experiment surveyed people and asked them if they could determine race simply by name. When the final list was completed they began to build the resumes. The resumes were very different and were randomly assigned in order to control for favoritism (Bertrand and Mullianathan, 2004). The jobs which the names applied for were in Boston and Chicago. The type of jobs that were applied for sales, admin support, clerical, and customer support (Bertrand and Mullianathan, 2004). What the study found is that names that were supposed to be perceived as white on average had a much higher percentage (roughly 50% higher) of getting a call back for an interview (Bertrand and Mullianathan, 2004) .

Discussion:

The study does have its flaws. The authors recognize this. The first flaw they recognize is that this only measures call back via phone call not email (Bertrand and Mullianathan, 2004). The second this does not measure job acquisition or starting salary which is a much more important statistic (Bertrand and Mullianathan, 2004). The next problem is the generalization of the study. The study is in only two location and only applies to certain umber of jobs. The second reason why generalization of the findings is limited is because of the names that are used and because the names used are often not associated with everyday black folks (Bertrand and Mullianathan, 2004). The next reason is because the job offerings were only found in the two cities newspapers and no where else, as a result the study took away the very important principle of social capital in the labor market (Bertrand and Mullianathan, 2004). The last flaw that is noticeable is that on figure 8 it is clear that many of the white names do have a higher likely hood of getting a call back. With that said some of the black sounding names actually did better at getting callback than the white sounding names and some of the white sounding names did better than other white sounding names, the same thing occurred with the black sounding names.

Despite its flaws this study does do many things correctly that make this study valid. First of which is that the authors control for many things to try to explain why certain attributes of the resume could have a greater impact on whether or not the prospective employee gets a call back. This study controls for the address of the applicant, prior work experience, schooling, parents education, military experience, and the list continues (Bertrand and Mullianathan, 2004). The authors found that many of these variables play a role in whether or not the individual will get a call back. In the end the concept of perceived race does play a role in potential job prospects.

[lonczak-blog]

Further Studies on Criminal Stigma and Hispanic Job Market

As I have already explained in Devah Pagers original work (Mark of a Criminal Record) we know that in the city of Milwaukee if you are black and do not have a criminal record you have less of a chance getting a callback than if you are white and do have a criminal record. Devah Pagers work however was not done and she wanted to further test to see if this could be replicated in another location. This time she chose New York City. 

The Results:

Not much changed. Devah Pager and her colleges still found that even after controlling for differences in style and resumes that both Hispanic and Black people without criminal records did not fare as well as a white person even with a criminal record (Pager, Western, Bonikowski; 2009). Why is this important? The significance of this study shows that despite differences in locations that labor market discrimination is a live and well. Black and Hispanic men who had comparable resumes to white men often had to apply to twice as many jobs as a white person.

Arizona:

There is another study as well that argues that discrimination does exist however the profound findings that both Devah Pagers study is not seen in Arizona. The study done in Arizona once again attempts to replicate Devah Pagers work to see if it can be generalized further to another area of the country (Decker, Ortiz, Spohn, Hedburg; 2015). Once again the study resulted in very similar results however there was a subtle difference. The study in Arizona found that while white people with out a criminal record were still more likely to get a callback than a black or Hispanic man without one (Decker, Ortiz, Spohn, Hedburg; 2015). The difference was that in the Arizona study the black men and the Hispanic men who did not have a criminal record were more likely to get a call back then a white man with one (Decker, Ortiz, Spohn, Hedburg; 2015). The difference was not overly great however. Similar findings can be found in a study done at Auburn University and by students at the University of Missouri and UC Berkeley where they ran a similar audit to test for labor market discrimination for Hispanics, though the findings were never published (Rajeev, Koedel, Martorel, Wilson, Perez-Arce) ( Seaton, Yip, Sellers. 2009)

Significance:

What is the significance of the study? What this study proves is that while Devah Pagers work is valid and has a lot of external validity what it goes to show is that the findings may not be able to be generalized across the country. The study in Arizona shows that even though certain trends may exist in certain areas of the country that may not exist in other areas of the country. In order to fully understand what the labor market discrimination looks like across the whole country there would have to studies done in every city across the country. This is simply not feasible which is why there are selective studies done in significant metropolitan areas.   

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Resume whitening

What is resume whitening?

Resume whitening is when someone decides to either change their name or aspects of their background in order to appear more white. This is a trend that is beginning to pick up steam as more studies come out that argue that those who names are white having a higher chance of getting a job interview (Kang, Decelles, Tilcsik; 2016). This technique is used to get into the door. 

The study:

The study by Kang, Decelles, Tilcsik, and Jun is a three part study which seeks to interview students who have practiced whitening (2016). Then they ran an experiment to see if resume whitening actually does work when applying to jobs.

Part 1:

The researchers interviewed students of both black and Asian decent and questioned them about how they felt about whitening there resumes. Many student acknowledged the behavior and even claimed they have done it or knew people who have (friends and family). Then the authors proceed to acknowledge how the students white wash their resume. For starters a student who is black may whiten up there resume if they have been a large advocate or participant in predominantly black clubs or organizations even if they have a leader ship position in it (Kang, Decelles, Tilcsik; 2016). The tactic behind the whitening is to get a foot into the door so that the applicant can make it to the next stage (Kang, Decelles, Tilcsik; 2016). The authors then begin to identify potential problems with whitening up a resume. The authors argue that by doing so the students assume that the potential employer is automatically going to be discriminatory towards them and by doing so they are already putting themselves behind the metaphorical 8 ball (Kang, Decelles, Tilcsik; 2016). The next flaw behind whitening a resume is hiding things that are actually accomplishments simply because you feel your potential employer will not like that you've worked with a black organization. The next flaw is a virtual continuation of the last in that in a sense you are lying about who you are a person (Kang, Decelles, Tilcsik; 2016).   

Part 2:

The authors then did a lab experiment where they had a control group and experimental group to see if the experimental (treatment) group would vary their resume less if a company cited that they valued diversity and put a picture of 4 people all standing next to each other (1 black male, 1 black female, 1 white male, 1 white female). The sample size for this was 119 undergraduate business students (41 men and 78 women; 87 East Asian, 18 South Asian, and 14 black participants) (Kang, Decelles, Tilcsik; 2016). There findings in the experiment suggested that their hypothesis is correct. They found that in the treatment group, people applying to that job whitened there resumes less than those in the control group (Kang, Decelles, Tilcsik; 2016).

Part 3:

This section was an audit study and much like in the audit studies done before them (Pager,2003) (Bertrand and Mullianathan, 2004) the authors wanted to test the labor market to see if resume whitening had a profound influence on callbacks. The authors, just like in parts 1 and 2 once again focused on blacks and Asians (Kang, Decelles, Tilcsik; 2016). The authors decided to break down the resumes into degrees of whitening (Kang, Decelles, Tilcsik; 2016). The first degree is no whitening. The second degree is whitening your name. The third is whitening your experience. The fourth is whitening both your name and your experience. The authors sent out the resumes to companies looking to hire on two major online job search websites (Kang, Decelles, Tilcsik; 2016). Upon completion of there study the authors found that the more a black individual whitened his resume the more likely they were to get a call back. for black who whitened their resume they had 2.5 callback for every one non whitened resume. For the Asians the ratio was slightly smaller but still noticeable at 1.8 whitened resume callbacks for every one non whitened resume callbacks (Kang, Decelles, Tilcsik; 2016). Both of these number are statistically significant (Kang, Decelles, Tilcsik; 2016). For blacks who chose to whiten their experiences and not their name the number of callback was still better and still statistically significant. However even tho the Asians were also more likely to get a call back there change was not statistically significant (Kang, Decelles, Tilcsik; 2016). 

Discussion:

After reading this we know that this practice is not something that is new and we know that it has two sides. Some job seekers do not like the practice of resume whitening but on the other side through both the experiment and the audit study we have seen the higher potential for call backs. Once again it must be noted that this is not measuring job acquisition, it is measuring potential call backs for interviews. The method of resume whitening is used to get a foot into the door of a business that the job seeker is interested in working in.   

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THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF DISTINCTIVELY BLACK NAMES

This study is placed to contrast the study produced by Bertrand and Mullianathan. This study will argue that there is a severe difference between white culture and other cultures. It is this culture that separates White names, Black names, Hispanic names, and Asian names. This study talks about predominantly about the differences between white and black names and there potential life outcomes. This study was done by Roland G Fryer about a year after the Bertrand and Mullianathan study came out.

Why:

This study looks to answer whether someones name will have an influence on their overall life outcomes. This study was done to either confirm or contrast the Bertrand and Mullianathan study. 

The Study:

Professor Fryer study is looking to see how ones name affects there overall job and life outcomes. The author took the names of every child born in California and then by controlling for other aspects such as resume and work experience Fryer puts the names into an equation called the BNI (Black Name Index) (Fryer and Levitt, 2004). What he found is that both confirms and contrasts what Bertrand and Mullianathan argue. Fryer finds that having a black sounding name comes with assumed economic risk. Meaning that by having a black sounding name you are going to be less likely to get an interview because your name is not part of the normative (white) culture. This concurs with Bertrand and Mullianathan because they argue that your name will impact your work prospects (Bertrand and Mullianathan 2004). Fryer’s findings tell a different story that Bertrand and Mullianathan acknowledge that they could not answer and that is how ones name ultimately affects there outcome in life. Fryer finds that ones name ultimately does not have an influence on there overall outcome, which suggests that people are willing to hire someone with a stereotypical black sounding name, that individual may just have to look harder (Fryer and Levitt, 2004).

Discussion:

Why is it important to have two studies that contradict each other? It is important to have both of these studies because both raise very valid points to further the debate about whether there is inherent discrimination in the labor market. For Bertrand and Mullianathan they would argue that there study proves that at some level there is discrimination (Bertrand and Mullianathan 2004). Fryer would tend to agree with Bertrand and Mullianathan to a certain extent. In that the potential discrimination only applies to the interview stage of finding a job (Fryer and Levitt, 2004). It ultimately has little to no influence on the overall job outcome once the prospective employee makes it to the interview stage.     

In another study conducted by in the Institute of Labor Study they found that wage gaps and hiring vary greatly depending on the position and place of employment. Once again this both works with and against what the other studies were saying. The other studies argue that there is a labor market discrimination in the labor market. However this potential discrimination is really only seen in the low skill labor market (O’neill and O’neill, 2005). This finding enforces what professor Fryer says because he argues that ultimately your name will not impinge on your future. It will just limit your prospects but once you get hired then you are now back on an even playing field.  

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Implications of all the studies

What do we know after reading all of the studies? According to Devah Pager in both Milwaukee and New York City there appears to be discrimination in low wage labor market. According to Decker, Ortiz, Spohn, and Hedberg we also know that there is discrimination in Arizona just not on the same scale as Devah Pager suggests. Bertand and Mullianathan suggest that names matter due to the perceived race of the name. Kang, Decelles, Tilcsik, and Jun we know that certain students coming out of college will look to “whiten up” there resumes in order to seem more white to their potential employers. Finally According to Fryer names do not matter in terms of overall outlook on life. 

What does this all mean:

What this means is that there is enough evidence to suggest that during the hiring process that if you have a name that does not conform to traditional names then you are likely to not get as many interview as someone who does have a traditional name. Simply put your name may have an economic consequence (Fryer and Levitt, 2004). For a black person with a record this would suggest that if his or her name was a non traditional name then they would have an even harder time than someone who is black who has the same record but a traditional name instead of a non traditional one. As for someone with out a criminal record and a non traditional name continue to look for jobs. However according to Fryer there are more than enough potential employers in the labor market who would be willing to call back someone with a non traditional name. Regardless this is still a problem that needs to be addressed.   

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Policy Implications

After reading about all of the studies and there implications for the labor mark in the United States I would like to briefly talk about policy implications moving forward. Many people after reading would be quick to jump to a conclusion that because there is evidence of labor market discrimination in low wage labor that we must further enforce affirmative action with in the workforce.  

As you will see in the video, this is a hot button issue that has both good and bad aspects that need to be addressed. Lets briefly look at the biggest why its good and the biggest why its bad. For starters affirmative action severs a good purpose to help get rid of discrimination. It opens the door to minorities of all different races and evens the playing field. On the other side affirmative action can over step its boundaries and infringe on, or give someone an opportunity that they may or may not have deserved. 

Ultimately what the policy implications come down to is how much interference are we willing to put up with. As a society do we believe that individuals are entitled to have there own beliefs and hire and act on those beliefs or should we force there hand and hire or call back someone that may or may not actually deserve to be called.

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Conclusion:

You have read the summaries of the studies, you have seen the implications of the studies, you know that policy moving forward is a hot button issue that will most likely never be resolved. Given what you have learned here an informed opinion can begin to take shape. You know that there is evidence that suggests that there is labor market discrimination but you also know that ultimately the names of individuals does not have a profound influence on the persons outcome in life. Moving forward the next step is to further understand to what extent people stigmatize names and perhaps do another study in another state to see how the stigmatization of the names affects there outcomes, perhaps in a state like New York which can then be compared to Devah Pagers work. Regardless of how many studies may be done I submit and conclude that there is no possible way to eliminate bias and to think that one can is verging on ludacris.