Professional Work in a ‘Post-Racial’ Era: Black Health Care Workers in the New Economy

Professional Work in a ‘Post-Racial’ Era: Black Health Care Workers in the New Economy

Pr. Adia Harvey Wingfield, The Mary Tileston Hemenway Professor of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis

June 13th, 12:30 - 14:00 at Sciences Po, 9 rue de la Chaise, Room 900

Abstract:

What happens to black professionals when work transforms? In an era of rapid technological change, shrinking protections for workers, and growing income inequality, work is no longer the secure, stable, predictable path to economic stability that it once was for some segments of the population. Instead, organizations today focus on shedding labor, cutting costs, and increasing shareholder returns. At the same time, however, many organizations also profess an interest in meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse population. How do they manage the tensions of adapting to these neoliberal ideals in a more multiracial society?

This research study focuses on black professionals in the health care industry to answer this question. Using in depth interviews, field observations, and survey data analysis, I show how work transformation fundamentally changes the labor black professionals do within and outside of organizations. This labor varies by occupational status and gender, leaving black men and black women with divergent responsibilities depending on their position in the organizational hierarchy. Ultimately, this research identifies new challenges for organizations and reveals an additional way that racial discrimination gets perpetuated in the new economy.

Bio:

Pr. Adia Harvey Wingfield is the Mary Tileston Hemenway Professor of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, where she is also Professor of Sociology and Vice Dean for Faculty Development and Diversity. Her research focuses on racial and gender inequality in professional occupations, and she has examined topics as varied as why Black men face obstacles to advancement in women-dominated occupations to how economic and cultural changes to how we work affect Black health care providers.