Black Professionals in Racialized and Community-Oriented Occupations: The Role of Equal Opportunity Protections and Affirmative Action in Maintaining the Status Quo

Abstract

This study explores the reasons for and ways in which the high proportion of African American college graduates in racialized and/or social service occupations account for part of the income disparity between blacks and whites. In particular, I assert that the disproportion of African Americans in public service and/or racialized jobs—those directed at or whose services are disproportionately used by blacks—yields considerable pay penalties that would not exist if black graduates were more diversified in their choice of occupations. I then explore the ways in which the equal opportunity protections and affirmative action policies thought to have been particularly important for middle-class mobility were, in fact, relatively ineffective for and often inapplicable to this portion of the black population. As a result, mainstream occupations and business ventures may appear riskier than their racialized or social service counterparts, thereby decreasing their appeal and the proportion of black college graduates interested in them.