The stereotypes that keep most of us out of power at work
Episode #30
There's one MAJOR factor that keeps mostly white men in power and the rest of us out of it: stereotypes. And they're not just reinforced at work. They're reinforced in the courts, rendering discrimination law not powerful enough to disrupt social hierarchies at work.
That power results in a distinct hierarchy along demographics and income — aka how we as a culture value work as it relates to racial and gender stereotypes and how much comfort groups can experience with their incomes. Authors of the book Rights on Trial report this hierarchy of median incomes by demographic in 2014:
Asian American men, $59,766
White men, $58,712
Asian American women, $48,419
White women, $44,236
African American men, $41,167
African American women, $35,212
Latino men, $35,114
Latina women, $30,329 (yes — that's about HALF the median income of Asian American men)
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