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  • Essay / Workplace Discrimination Against African Americans in the United States

    America, the home of the free, a place in which all should be equal and treated as such. However, in theory this is not the case, as the discussion of race is a sensitive topic that raises many social issues within our society. One particular social problem that remains an important and relevant problem in American society even today is the issue of racial discrimination in the workplace. Racial discrimination is the act of discriminating against individuals based on the color of their skin or their racial/ethnic origin. This is a prevalent problem in American society, particularly among African Americans who are much more vulnerable to this problem in the workplace and job market. I decided to write about this issue because I believe it is a blatant violation of American society as African Americans are subjected to an unfair and unequal decision based solely on their skin color . I was also able to hear my siblings' stories about their experiences of enduring racial discrimination in the workplace and was very disappointed but not shocked to learn how common this problem is. There are many stories like these and many contributing factors to this problem that need to be addressed. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay One of the most common factors contributing to workplace discrimination against African Americans is the struggle to have less access to jobs than whites. Even early on in sending out a resume, a person may experience discrimination because resumes with black-sounding names are less likely to be called back compared to resumes with a white-sounding name. This proves once again that, before even having the opportunity to be interviewed, an individual can be discriminated against simply because of their name. On top of that, data showed a persistent racial gap between black workers having fewer job opportunities than white workers. The data shows that “even after a decade of progress in the labor market, black workers face more barriers to finding work than white workers.” » (Weller, 2019) Having less access to employment leads to fewer employment opportunities, which makes the situation much more difficult. It is even more difficult for African Americans to get a good start in the working world. This is socially important because without a good start in finding a job, it is more difficult to save for your future. By removing this opportunity, African Americans are pushed back and forced to work twice as hard as whites. Another factor contributing to workplace discrimination is racial and gender bias against black women in the workplace. As women in American society, we face stereotypical gender biases in the workplace. However, being both female and black in American society comes with racial and gender bias, as black women face some of the most crushing discrimination in the workplace. From the beginning, black women are already faced with the stereotype of the “angry black woman” whenever they express their opinions. This leads to black women having difficulty conforming to dominant white behavioral norms in the workplace, as they are "pressured to change the way they dress, wear their hair, and speak, andalso become more sociable and less “ethnic”. (Kramer, 2020) This ultimately strips away a Black woman's identity and cultural authenticity in favor of the exchange of "fitting in" in the workplace. Additionally, even when Black women attempt to conform to these expectations, they are still treated unfairly because their contributions in the workplace are undermined and unrecognized. To further explain “compared to other women in the United States, black women have consistently had the highest levels of labor force participation, regardless of age, marital status, or the presence of children in the home Yet, Black women are still often excluded from opportunities to contribute to their advancement and are often overlooked by their counterparts who have less experience and work ethic. This issue is socially important because there is no doubt that, compared to men, women are much more prone to discrimination in the workplace. However, women with non-dominant social identities such as ethnicity, race, and motherhood face much more additional discrimination in the workplace. Finally, another contributing factor to workplace discrimination is the fact that black workers have higher unemployment rates than whites. While the U.S. economy and job market have experienced exceptional job growth, African Americans still face systematic barriers in the workplace when simply trying to find employment, regardless of a good job. This alarming unemployment rate for African Americans has been described as “last hired, first fired.” The job market has historically been worse for African Americans than for whites. This has many probable causes, such as the fact that blacks are less likely to attend and graduate from college, due to the unfortunate fact that African Americans experience financial problems when attending college. Yet even black college graduates still face greater job instability, as "data further show that African Americans generally face higher unemployment than whites, regardless of age, gender, education and veteran status. » (Weller, 2020) Regardless of their qualifications, African Americans and their contribution to the job market are continually devalued as they are more prone to unemployment. This is socially important because rising unemployment rates among African Americans translate to less job instability, fewer benefits, and fewer opportunities. These systematic racial differences only exacerbate the significant racial wealth gap in American society and create inequities in the distribution of jobs. Due to these ongoing workplace issues that impact African Americans in society, we can view it through the concept of social class. This study of social class is the social and economic division of a society based on an individual's status. It is also a product of the social stratification of society, which involves categorizing people into socio-economic strata. The idea is to classify a person's status based on their profession, income, wealth and social status. This issue of racial discrimination falls under the socially significant category due to social class due to the unequal opportunities in America for African Americans. Social class already pushes back those who do not come from a country or do not have a financial situation..