1994 - Why Desegregate? The Effect of School Desegregation on Adult Occupational Desegregation of African Americans, Whites and Hispanics

Attribution: Braddock II, Jomills Henry, Dawkins, Marvin P., & Trent, William
Researchers: Jomills Henry Braddock IIMarvin P. DawkinsWilliam Trent
University Affiliation: University of Miami
Email: braddock@miami.edu
Research Question:
Studies the relationship between attending desegregated high schools and desegregated adult workplaces.
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: International Journal of Contemporary Sociology
Journal Entry: Vol. 31, No. 2
Year: 1994
Findings:
  • High school racial composition had a positive net effect on co-workers’ racial composition in the North and in the South.
  • In the South, age and occupational level were also strong predictors. In the North, occupational level and employment sector were strong.
  • When neighborhood racial composition is included, the direct effect of school desegregation remains for the North, but not for the South.
  • Community racial composition is not a significant predictor of workplace desegregation in the South, but occupational level has a strong, positive effect, suggesting that upward mobility increases the likelihood for blacks to work in desegregated settings.
  • The NLS-ES and the NLS-Y data show that for Blacks, Whites and Mexicans, high school desegregation experience is the major determinant of the likelihood that they will work in desegregated environments. These effects are independent of other background factors including (county of residence racial composition, employment sector, and educational attainment).
Keywords: DesegregationDiversityHispanicsLatinosLong Term OutcomesOccupational OutcomesRegions: NationalMethodologies: QuantitativeResearch Designs: Secondary Survey DataAnalysis Methods: Regression Sampling Frame:National
Sampling Types: RandomAnalysis Units: IndividualData Types: Quantitative-Longitudinal
Data Description:
  • The data are from three independent national surveys. (1)The National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA) is a national probability sample survey of 2,107 black Americans, 18yrs+ in 1979-1980. (2) NLS-ES is the National Longitudinal Survey of Employers, national probability sample of 4,078 employers drawn from jobs held by young adult workers who were part of the national rep sample of jobs held by black, white, and Hispanic NLS-72 respondents. Questionnaires were mailed; data collected about recruitment, hiring, promotion and firm size, firm racial and gender make-up, and affirmative action policies. (3) The National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Force Participation-Youth Cohort (NLS-Y) included 3 independent probability sample of Black, Hispanic, and White young people. Years 1979-1987 are used in this study.
  • The three sample design of the survey provides an especially rich base of data on Blacks (n=2,923), Hispanics (n=1,924), and Whites (n=6,721).
  • IV: sex, age, HS % Black, HS racial composition, employment sector, occupational level, educational attainment, county % Black, neighborhood race.
  • DV: occupational desegregation (percentage of Black co-workers in a respondent’s work group, racial composition of co-worker groups, and measure of racial composition of a respondent’s firm).
Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:
Archives: K-12 Integration, Desegregation, and Segregation Abstracts