No More Invisible Man: Race and Gender in Men’s Work

Georgia State University sociologist Wingfield (Changing Times for Black Professionals) explores how race, class, and gender shape the experiences of black men working in predominantly white professions. Even though 25% of black men are employed in professional or managerial jobs, hardly any studies on their occupational experiences exist, in part because research and media attention focus on underclass or elite blacks, Wingfield notes. Conducting in-depth interviews with black lawyers, engineers, doctors, and bankers, she studies their challenges, obstacles, opportunities, and interactions with colleagues. As expected, the subjects experienced racism, discrimination, and stereotyping at work. For example, an emergency room doctor describes a dying patient suffering from acute respiratory distress who refused to be treated by a black doctor. Yet black male professionals also reported relative ease forging relationships with their white male colleagues, and they empathized with challenges facing women in these male-dominated fields. Though their upward mobility gave them solidarity with men in their social group, they no longer had an affinity with working-class blacks. This solid academic study enhances our understanding of the difficulties professional black men face in the work place, but the dry scholarly writing may limit its appeal for a general audience. (Dec.)