Split Labor Markets and Black-White Relations, 1865-1920

Marks, Carole

doi:10.2307/275009

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…While general predictions regarding racial/ethnic hierarchy and labor market stratification are useful, racial/ethnic competition/threat theory and related scholarship has long argued that demographic concentrations will generate variations in levels of exclusion and ultimately, in the case of our focus, disparate labor market rewards (Blalock ; Bonacich ; Marks ). Indeed, consistent with this point, prior work connects competitive threat and local urban context to racial violence and conflict.…”

Section: Racial/ethnic Hierarchy Competition and Labor Market Inequmentioning

confidence: 99%

Racial/Ethnic Hierarchy and Urban Labor Market Inequality: Four Poignant Historical Cases

2019

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The sociological literature, although rich on the topic of racial/ethnic hierarchy, often overlooks its spatially varying nature relative to group tensions and inequality. In this article, we address this gap by drawing on and analyzing four historically important U.S. urban cases (i.e., Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City) that reflect both compositional diversity and significant variation in racial/ethnic group sizes. Our analyses, which draw on U.S. Census microdata and content‐coded newspaper reports (1910–1930), demonstrate considerable consistency in racial/ethnic labor market hierarchies, yet divergences in levels of labor market inequality. Specifically, our aggregate analyses and cross‐city comparisons of sectoral representations and occupational returns reveal the importance of place‐specific processes—processes consistent with what spatially sensitive queuing perspectives suggest about the bolstering of minority prospects in contexts where subordinated groups come to numerically dominate. As suggested by competition/threat perspectives, however, such gains from queuing are undermined at least to some extent by city‐specific racial/ethnic antagonisms, industry‐level segregation, and group closure. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for various streams of research on group inequality, labor market hierarchies, and spatial understandings of how they unfold across urban spaces.

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Section: Racial/ethnic Hierarchy Competition and Labor Market Inequmentioning

confidence: 99%

Racial/Ethnic Hierarchy and Urban Labor Market Inequality: Four Poignant Historical Cases

2019

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“…The split labor market is not only rooted in the interactions between the two ethnic and/or racial groups, but it is also dependent on the interactions with the owning class (Bonacich ; Marks ). The cheaper labor eventually replaces the more expensive labor thus creating tension between the ethnics and the “mainstream.” The split labor market is dependent on three labor groups.…”

Section: Split Labor Market Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bonacich's theory is “grounded in a ‘materialist’ rather than an idealist interpretation of events” (Marks , 294). Meaning that this framework is more concerned with material realities and effects than the ideologies that are related.…”

Section: Split Labor Market Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some scholars have argued that the split labor market is essentially a theory of class conflict (Marks ). Bonacich () explains that the introduction of new labor into the market can end up in (i) a promotion of a caste system; (ii) development of trade unions; or (iii) attempts of exclusion.…”

Section: Split Labor Market Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meaning that this framework is more concerned with material realities and effects than the ideologies that are related. Scholars have critique the first rendition of the split labor market theory for being overly dependent on the laboring class and exclusively focusing on the material resources while ignoring the ideological play performed by the owning class (Marks ). Discrimination is also understood as purely economic and as a means of eliminating competition, not as linked to racial ideologies and understandings of racial essentialism and difference.…”

Section: Split Labor Market Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The Threat of the “Other”: Ethnic Competition and Racial Interest

Gonzalez‐Sobrino

2016

Sociology Compass

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Racial conflict has been at the center of US society since its inception. Various theories have tried to explain why racial conflict arises and what the motivating factors are. The aim of this article is to examine one of these theories––ethnic competition––by reviewing the sociological literature from the 1970s to present that focuses on racial interest, ethnic competition, and racial threat.

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Racial Conflict and Split Labor Markets

Brown¹

1998

Social Science History

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Recently, scholars have devoted significant attention to race relations in the history of the U.S. labor movement. This research has explored the militancy of African American workers, examined how racism divided particular organizing drives, and documented white workers’ efforts to preserve racial privilege. Much of this work has also emphasized workers’ agency but has obscured the racial implications of labor market characteristics (for exceptions see Maloney 1995; Sugrue 1996). This article argues that racial conflict during the 1919 steel organizing drive resulted from the development of split labor markets, which constrained workers’ opportunities to exercise agency based on class position but encouraged workers to exercise agency in terms of their racial interests. In 1919, the sources of workers’ empowerment diverged along racial lines.

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Split Labor Markets and Black-White Relations, 1865-1920

Cited by 14 publications

References 0 publications

Racial/Ethnic Hierarchy and Urban Labor Market Inequality: Four Poignant Historical Cases

Racial/Ethnic Hierarchy and Urban Labor Market Inequality: Four Poignant Historical Cases

The Threat of the “Other”: Ethnic Competition and Racial Interest

Racial Conflict and Split Labor Markets

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