Page 157 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

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BRIEF, BUTZ, DEITCH
barbers; and 29% of pressing machine operators (U.S. Bureau of the Census,
2002a).
This inequality in the structure of labor markets is problematic for sev­
eral reasons. Principal among them for our purposes are the relationships
between social structure and stereotypes. People tend to infer stereotypes
from social structure, (i.e., from the roles they see members of groups
playing in society; e.g., Bayton, McAlister, & Hamer, 1956; Hoffman &
Hurst, 1990; Jost & Banaji, 1994). More specifically, Eagly and her colleagues
showed that stereotypes emerge as explanations (or justifications) for exist­
ing divisions of labor (e.g., Eagly, 1987,1995; Eagly & Steffen, 1986; also see,
for example, Hoffman & Hurst, 1990; Skrypnek & Snyder, 1982). Highly
skewed sex or race composition in the occupational marketplace is likely to
activate stereotypes automatically (e.g., Heilman, 1995) and, perhaps, with­
out the observer's awareness (e.g., Fiske, 1998), and, as discussed in more
detail later, these stereotypes affect organizational decision makers. So, for
instance, if one were to observe relatively few Blacks in a job requiring
considerable training and skill (e.g., registered nurse) and relatively many
Blacks occupying a job requiring little training and skill (e.g., orderly), this
could evoke and reinforce a negative stereotype of Blacks as not very smart
and/or not very motivated. Obviously, such beliefs likely would not bode
well for Black job applicants.
Thus, a vicious cycle exists: Social structure, in the form of occupational
roles, evokes negative stereotypes about Blacks, which, when acted upon
by organizational decision makers (consciously or unconsciously), serves
to maintain the existing social structure. Such stereotypes have been de­
scribed as "relatively enduring cultural phenomena" (Brief, 1998, p. 123;
also see, for example, Stroebe & Insko, 1989). As such, the stereotypes of
Blacks in America can be thought of as a cultural stereotype that persists
and whose content is known widely by both prejudiced and nonprejudiced
individuals (e.g., Devine, 1989).
In summary, social structure matters. How Blacks are distributed across
occupations in the environment in which an organization is embedded
(e.g., city, industry, or nation) could evoke negative stereotypes of Blacks;
and, those stereotypes could influence the personnel decisions made in the
organization.

Attitudinal Baggage

This exemplary environmental influence, although evident in the sociol­
ogy literature in general, is least explored in terms of its potential influ­
ence on the race composition of organizations. Scott (1987, p. 19) observed
"employees come to the organization with heavy cultural and social