White Managers, Ethnoracism, and the Production of Black Ethnic Labor Market Disparities

Abstract

Few have considered the role of White managers in longstanding Black ethnic labor market disparities. Drawing on ethnoracism theory, I conceptualize the previously documented White manager preference for Afro Caribbeans as a form of prejudice that contributes to the relative success of Afro Caribbeans. White managers say they prefer Afro Caribbeans because they work harder and are less racially antagonistic than African Americans. However, using the National Survey of American Life, I show that these populations are virtually indistinguishable in terms of labor quality and racial attitudes. Moreover, net labor quality and racial attitudes, the incomes of English and non-English speaking Afro Caribbeans are greater when working for White managers, but African Americans with White managers receive no greater income than those without a White manager. I conclude with a call for the formal development of a new ontological framework for the study of these kinds of ethnoracially dynamic relationships.

The colour of system avoidance in Canada: Investigating the importance of immigrant generation among African Canadians

“…This finding demands further investigation. They may be treated more poorly than those perceived to be immigrant Black ethnics, as the extant literature might suggest (Adesina Ifatunji, 2022; Lindsay, 2015; Wilson‐Forsberg et al., 2020). Alternatively, they may be more likely to integrate these incidences of discrimination as part of their understanding of themselves in Canadian society and as a memorable part of their personal narratives.…”

“…While Argentinians evince some nominal tolerance for Black people who do not evoke an Argentinian cultural identity—Afro‐Brazilians or African Americans living in Buenos Aires, for example—Black Argentinians endure explicit racialized discrimination as they are violently symbolically ejected from the national identity (Williams, 2011). In one study in the United States, white managers in employment settings said they prefer Afro‐Caribbean employees over African‐American employees because they believed them to work harder and be less racially antagonistic (Adesina Ifatunji, 2022). Similarly, when African‐American men, African‐American women and Black immigrants joined forces to fight over‐policing in New York, it was with a collective understanding of African‐American men's positionalities as the most stigmatized by white power holders (Lindsay, 2015).…”

“…Despite a ubiquitous paradigm that holds integration to be the ipso facto social good, for Black immigrants in the Global North, acculturation into the existing Black community represents downward mobility between the first and second generation (Gans, 2009). While accents, whether linguistic or cultural, make non‐Black immigrants more likely to experience discrimination (Kayaalp, 2016; Simon, 2003), Black immigrants may have very different experiences when navigating their race and immigrant status in host countries (Adesina Ifatunji, 2022). Still, nuanced research in Canada has been hampered by the relative recency of widespread immigration to the nation from outside of North America and Europe.…”

“…Extant literature suggests that white people in diverse settler colonies like the United States, Argentina, and Canada construct immigrant Black ethnics as more broadly acceptable than “native‐born” Black people (Adesina Ifatunji, 2022; Lindsay, 2015; Mensah & Williams, 2015; Tettey & Puplampu, 2006; Williams, 2011; Wilson‐Forsberg et al., 2020). While Argentinians evince some nominal tolerance for Black people who do not evoke an Argentinian cultural identity—Afro‐Brazilians or African Americans living in Buenos Aires, for example—Black Argentinians endure explicit racialized discrimination as they are violently symbolically ejected from the national identity (Williams, 2011).…”

Toward an Ethnoracial Ontology for the Study of Race and Ethnicity: The Case of African Americans and Black Immigrants in the United States

“…. the formal development of an ethnoracial ontology for the study of race and ethnicity in settler and colonial societies” (Aranda 2017; Ifatunji 2021:454; Lewis and Forman 2017; C. A.…”