June 16th Reading

“A Test of Sincerity: How Black and Latino Service Workers Make Decisions about Making Referrals.”

· In this article, the author interviews black and Latino service workers at UC Berkeley to measure the levels of referrals that are given to employ new workers. Studies showed that blacks were less likely to get hired because they were considered ‘less capable and/or obedient etc.’. The author ultimately suggests that cultural resources play a large part in the rates of hiring and overall Latinos play a larger part in providing friends and family with resources, references, and advice to getting hired. I find this article interesting in that it shows a clear perspective of the contrasting rates of hiring rates. My question is if the case of each worker was individualized and the context of social and family were taken into account (i.e. family history, U.S. citizen, immigrant or non-resident?) would the results be different? What workers would fit into the ‘black’ category? Nigerian, Senegalese, Jamaican and many other people who immigrate to the U.S. are placed into racial category of black. I find that Latino and Hispanic can also serve as an umbrella term for many people of differing cultural origins (i.e. Spain, Portugal, Mexico etc.). Growing up in a culturally diverse community I have been able to see many different types of people from cultural origins. I believe that Smith makes a valid point but if she took this point into consideration I believe she would have a slight shift in statistics.