Racialized Organizations and the Reproduction of Inequality: Assessing Support for Whiteness as a Credential and the Preservation of Racial Ignorance

Download data and study materials from OSF

Principal investigator:

Julie Kmec

Washington State University

Email: jkmec@wsu.edu

Homepage: https://soc.wsu.edu/people/faculty/kmec-julie/


Sample size: 901

Field period: 07/07/2022-01/18/2023

Abstract

Background: Organizations are not “race neutral.” Instead, race is part of organizations and theay play a role in the reproduction of inequality—they are racialized. Organizational racialization has implications for achieving social and organizational change. I draw on Ray’s (2019) theory of racialized organizations to understand how organizations, in this case colleges, redistribute resources along racial lines in ways that perpetuate ignorance and White advantage. I ask: To what extent do employers support policies and programs that maintain racial ignorance? Do levels of support differ across college type?

Methods: Data come from a survey-experiment using a sample of U.S. manager respondents drawn from NORC at the University of Chicago's AmeriSpeak panel. I lead a respondent to believe they were reacting to the career-preparedness advice that a fictitious company provides to a fictious college. Half of the sample was led to believe that the college is an historically White college (HWCU) and the other half, an historically Back college (HBCU).

Results: Support for college practices varies according to type of practice and college. Curricular-related policies and practices have lower support across the board. Support differed across condition such that when efforts had budgetary implications, specifically cutting a Black Studies department in an HWCU and lower salary recommendations in an HBCU.

Conclusions: Findings inform the implementation of educational programming that centers on racial knowledge, yet simultaneously suggest evidence of the reproduction of ignorance, especially in HBCUs.

Hypotheses

Hypothesis 1: Managers will support policies or practices that benefit Whites in the distribution of monetary resources and academic leniency. Their support will be greater in PWCUs than in HBCUs.

Hypothesis 2: Managers will support curricular requirements and programming efforts that promote racial ignorance. Their support will be greater in PWCUs than in HBCUs.

Experimental Manipulations

I conducted an experiment that manipulated the type of college a respondent was exposed to. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of two types of conditions and read:

Colleges and universities are increasingly seeking advice from private companies about ways to prepare students for success in today’s economy. The advice they receive from companies helps them design academic programming, class requirements, and where to channel monetary support.

Avantex, a large consulting firm, was recently asked by a nearby college, the state’s oldest [Historically Black College/college], for advice on best practices regarding student postgraduate readiness.

Outcomes

Outcome variables related to racial ignorance: Support for curricular related programming or policies: Black Studies Department, Programing aimed at first generation and minority students, justice-related course sequence, Honor’s program entry requirements, high school race class AP credit acceptance, race- related hiring theme, Common Reading book with a race-based theme, cut academic journal with race theme, priority of race-themed summer class. Support for budgetary programming or policies: symposium funding, student scholarship amounts, faculty salaries, DEI training (free to students), symposium funding, building a multi-cultural student center.*

*above measures of the spread of racial ignorance compared to non-race related programming and curriculum. See table on OSF study page for descriptions

Summary of Results

Summary of findings (including treatment effects) (see table on OSF study page)

Research Question 1: Is there overall support for the institutional spread of racial ignorance?

I first turn to analyses using the full sample to see the ways business leaders, regardless of what college condition they were exposed to, support policies or practices that uphold the spread of racial ignorance. When asked if they would cut an academic department as a cost-saving measure, 16% said they would cut a Black Studies department, this is around the same percentage who would cut an English Literature department (15%). Roughly one-third indicated they would suggest the college cut a Rural Sociology department and a Theater department. Statistical tests of difference among response categories demonstrate the percentage who want to cut theater is significantly more than the percentage that named Black Studies. Only 3% said they would recommend cutting an Earth Science department, a significantly lower share than those who would cut Black Studies.

Respondents indicated which course sequence they would recommend that the college drop. They mentioned all—Justice, Humanities, Biological Sciences, Qualitative—in equal proportions. Regarding support for career readiness programming, there was statistically lower support for a Visual Arts program (mean = 2.64, standard deviation=0.78 where 1=definitely add to 5=definitely not add) compared to support for a McNair program (mean = 1.96). Support for a McNair program was statistically the same as support for a self-marketing program (mean = 1.49) (not significantly different). Overall, 61% of respondents said the college should not accept AP credit from a HS Race Studies class, significantly more than the 33% who indicated it should not accept credit from a literature class, but significantly less than those would reject AP courses from an art class (77%) or a European history class (66%).

Respondents considered what hiring theme the college should pursue. Significantly more said they would recommend Criminal Justice Reform (26%), Modern Global Change (22%), Environmental Studies (26%) compared to a theme of Race and Health (18%). Business leaders leaned closer to supporting a required free 5-hour DEI course requirement for students, with a mean value of 2.55 (standard deviation = 1.11) where 1=would not support, 4= support. They also believed that a Common Reading book whose theme focused on teaching White privilege was not entirely suitable: a mean of 3.44 (standard deviation of 1.40) where 1=very suitable and 5 not at all suitable). Suggested salaries for assistant professors were roughly $84,000 (standard deviation = $22,174) (the top category option was $150,000+). Just over 40% said the college should build a multi-cultural student center compared to 52% who suggested a general student center, a statistically significant difference. When asked to prioritize the topic of a summer course, respondents ranked “Studies in American Literature” significantly higher than a course titled “Race and Nation in the US-Mexican Borderland” while they ranked the latter on par with a “History of American Music” course and one called “Contemporary Art Appreciation.” Finally, a significantly higher share of respondents recommended that the college drop a journal related to physics (48%) and Victorian culture (86%) compared to one on race (31%) while significantly fewer suggested eliminating a politics journal (12%) compared to a race-focused journal.

Research Question 2: Do levels of support differ across condition (i.e., college type)?

I test levels of support for racial ignorance inducing policies and practices across condition: an Historically Black College/University (HBCU) or an Historically White on (HWCU)l. I estimate a z-test to identify difference in proportion between HBC and HWC, and a t-tests to identify significant difference in means across college type. If a difference between HBCUU and HWCU was not significant, I report the mean value for the full sample.

I observe a significant difference in the support for cutting a Black Studies department (in times of budget shortfalls); 18% of managers exposed to the HWCU condition indicated the college should cut Black Studies, while only 13% in the HBCU condition did. Significantly more respondents said they support the college requirement of a free, 5-hour DEI training prior to graduation in the HWCU condition (mean = 2.65, standard deviation=0.06) compared to the HBCU condition (mean=2.48, standard deviation=0.05). Respondents mentioned a starting salary for a new professor that was roughly $3,000 lower in an HBCU ($84,618) compared to that in an HWCU ($87,175). Respondents ranked a course on “race and nation in the US-Mexican Borderland” as having more priority in a HWCU than an HBCU. And finally, more respondents supported building a multi-cultural student center in the HWCU condition than the HBCU condition.