- This research examines the processes that perpetuate segregation. The effect of school segregation on occupational segregation net of sex, age, occupational status, and employment sector was analyzed.
- In the North and in the South, high school racial composition was the most powerful and the only significant predictor of coworker racial composition.
- The effect was stronger in the North than in the South. Though significant, high school racial composition explains only a small proportion of the variance in coworker racial composition.
- The relationship is estimated with a control for the racial composition of the community. In the North, high school racial composition is still the largest and only significant predictor of occupational segregation.
- In the South, community racial make up is the major determinant—the effect on coworker racial composition is nearly four times the effect of high school racial composition on coworker racial composition. However, in the South community and school segregation are strongly associated—joint effects are difficult to disentangle.
- The elaborated model explains only a small proportion of variance.
- The study also examines the effects of high school racial composition on black workers’ perceptions of their supervisors’ competence and their coworkers’ friendliness.
- The findings indicate that desegregated educational backgrounds create different attitudes among blacks that produce or sustain desegregation in adult life.