The Long-Term Effects of School Desegregation on the Educational and Occupational Aspirations/Attainment of Blacks

    THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF SCHOOL DESEGREGATION ON THE 
EDUCATIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL ASPIRATIONS/ATTAIMENT OF BLACKS 

By: Amy Stuart Wells 
Robert L. Crain 

SECOND DRAFT -- SECPMD DRAFT -- SECOND DRAFT (Not for Attribution) 

 



  

Hundreds of research studies have attempted to assess the 

short-term outcomes of school desegregation -- the academic 

achievement of desegregated black students or the amount oF "white 

fight" from desegregated school districts -- but significantly 

fewer studies have looked at the longer-lasting social and economic 

impact of policies that bring black and white students together. 

In fact, as school districts throughout the country seek an end to 

Federal court supervision in desegregation cases, very little is 

known about how effective those plans have been in terms of 

equalizing black and white students' educational and occupational 

attainment or reshaping students' views toward themselves and 

people of different races. At a time when the judicial and 

political tides have turned against the once-powerful movement to 

eliminate separate black and white schools, the relatively small 

body of research on the long-term effects of school desegregation 

is due for a thorough synthesis. Court decisions allowing school 

boards to return to neighborhood assignment patterns may solve 

short-run problems of inconvenience, expense and white protest but 

they may also lead to deeper more entrenched forms of segregation, 

inequality and racism. 

This paper focuses on the long-term effects of school 

desegregation on black students' educational and occupational 

aspirations and attainment. To evaluate the success of school 

desegregation in this area, several questions need to be answered: 

Do desegregated black students have higher or lower educational 

 



  

and occupational aspirations than segregated black students? Are 

their aspirations more realistic in light of their academic 

performance? Do they have higher college-going and graduation 

rates? How does their occupational attainment differ from 

segregated black students with the same number of years of 

schooling? Answers to such questions could help judges, school 

officials, and policy makers evaluate the degree to which school 

desegregation -- whether through mandatory busing or newer, more 

innovative forms of "controlled choice" (see Alves and Willie, 

1989) -- remains a valuable policy. 

Theoretical Context 

Interest in the long-term effects of school desegregation on 

black adults stems from "perpetuation theory," or the idea that 

segregation tends to repeat itself "across the stages of the life 

cycle and across institutions when individuals have not had 

sustained experiences in desegregated settings earlier in life" 

(McPartland and Braddock, 1981). According to this theory, black 

students from segregated elementary and secondary schools will be 

more likely to choose a predominantly black college over a 

predominantly white one. When they become adults, they will be more 

apt to live in segregated neighborhoods and have predominantly 

black social and professional networks. Therefore, they will be 

more likely to end up in "traditionally black" occupations -- auto 

mechanic, postal worker, nurse's aide, social worker, etc. —-- where 

they will have few white co-workers, lower salaries, and fewer 

 



  

opportunities for promotion. 

Perpetuation theory does not attempt to explain all the 

effects of schools desegregation on adult life chances. It does 

not, of course, deal with the effects of desegregation on white 

prejudice or institutional discrimination. This theory looks at 

only one aspect of the vicious cycle of racial segregation in our 

society -- blacks' access to and attitudes toward more economically 

viable integrated settings. As Wilson (1987) and other social 

scientists have noted, the greatest barrier to social and economic 

mobility for today's black urban "underclass" is the degree to 

which they remain isolation from the opportunities and networks of 

the middle-class world. 

Building from several different researchers' definitions 

(mainly McPartland and Braddock, 1981 and Hoelter, 1982) of 

perpetuation, we have identified three main mechanisms that 

contribute to perpetuated racial segregation for black students and 

young adults: 

1) Lack of Information about Educational/Occupational 

Opportunities -- Segregated blacks do not have access to 

interracial networks through which they can gain access to certain 

institutions and organizations. 

To the extent that knowledge necessary for the 
rational pursuit of goals is not uniform within society, 
explanations which are derived from social organization 
become increasingly important for explaining rational 
plans of action. Given a particular goal, we can thus 
look into one's social environment in an effort to 
ascertain the existence of knowledge necessary for the 
development and implementation of maximally efficient 
means for obtaining the goal (Hoelter, 1982. p.32). 

 



  

2) Self-depreciation -- Segregated blacks feel ntinldnted by 

whites and may adopt more traditional myths and stereotypes 

concerning black versus white intelligence and maintain a "white- 

is-right" attitude. Such blacks are more likely to think they are 

not capable of competing with whites because they have never had 

the opportunity to test such beliefs (Crain, 1971 or McPartland and 

Braddock,.©1981). 

3) Fear of Whites as Racists -- Segregated blacks may choose 

to avoid the anticipated discomfort of being exposed to white 

racism. They tend to assume all whites are racist and will not 

treat them fairly. According to Braddock (1980), 

...minority students who have not regularly experienced 
the realities of desegregated settings may overanticipate 
the amount of overt hostility to be encountered or 
underestimate their skill at coping with strains in 
future interracial situations (p.181). 

If racial segregation early in life does indeed lead to a 

self-perpetuating process of single-race associates and 

institutions among blacks, then: it .. follows that school 

desegregation plans should be one of the most effective methods of 

helping black students break into integrated social and 

professional networks. These networks will in turn help them 

obtain further educational opportunities and better-paying jobs. 

Desegregated blacks should become more comfortable around whites 

and less fearful of competing against and working with whites. 

Furthermore, desegregated black students are more likely to obtain 

degrees from schools that white employers and college admissions 

officers are familiar with and whose alumni they have previously 

 



  

hired or admitted. 

The debate concerning whether or not student achievement 

improves in desegregated schools remains unresolved (Schofield, 

1990). Meanwhile, black segregationists continue to denounce school 

desegregation policy on the basis that black students need not sit 

next to white students in order to learn and that black students 

are not treated fairly in desegregated school settings. Still, few 

of these segregationists would argue that, even after controlling 

for educational achievement, there remains a large black-white 

difference in adult occupational attainment, and the vast majority 

of blacks enter a restricted range of lower-paying careers. 

Interracial exposure in schools may help to overcome black's 

tendency toward the desire to avoid whites and "penetrate the 

continuing exclusionary barriers" that channel blacks into less 

promising and lucrative occupations, limit their access to helpful 

networks of information and sponsorship, or create special burdens 

that "foreclose consideration of potential opportunities" 

(McPartland and Braddock, 1981). 

Methodological Considerations 

This paper provides an analysis of the most significant 

research on the long-term effects of school desegregation and the 

degree to which that research supports or refutes the theory of 

perpetual segregation. The 18 studies examined here range in focus 

from the aspirations of black students to the actual occupational 

attainment of black adults. 

 



  

A cursory look at these studies suggests that attending a 

desegregated school can help break the cycle of separate and 

unequal career paths for blacks and whites, especially at the 

college-going and job-entry stages of life. But the literature is 

not without its shortcomings. Perhaps the most significant flaw is 

that the vast majority of the research is based on national 

longitudinal data sets, which provide a valuable cross-regional 

view point, but do not allow for differentiation between various 

types of school desegregation plans. Given that methods of school 

desegregation in this country vary widely from one school district 

to the next it is quite likely that the backgrounds, 

characteristics and social attitudes of black students who attend 

desegregated schools in different cities and districts also vary 

widely. 

For instance, throughout much of the South, but only in a few 

cases in the North, desegregation plans involve mandatory 

assignment and "forced" busing. In such plans, students who remain 

in the public schools have no control over where or with whom they 

attend school. But several school districts in the North and 

throughout the Midwest maintain voluntary desegregation plans, in 

which students decide for themselves whether they want to go to a 

"mixed" school. Therefore, it's quite possible that blacks from the 

North who attend a desegregated schools are much more likely to be 

"self-selected," meaning that they choose a desegregated school 

instead of being forcibly bused to one. There is a strong 

likelihood that these students have, even before attending a 

 



  

| 

desegregated school, been less fearful of competing in a "white 

world" than their segregated peers in the North or their Southern 

counterparts who are mandatorily bused to an integrated school. 

They and their parents probably also have a more positive attitude 

toward the goal of integration in general. These attitudinal 

factors, which are difficult to control in a statistical analysis, 

could conceivably create a strong interaction effect with the main 

independent variable =-- segregated versus desegregated school -- 

in most of these studies. 

Even for those respondents involved in mandatory desegregation 

plans, self-selection remains a factor because many parents -- 

mostly white, but also some black =-- choose to remove their 

children from the public school systems when mandatory busing plans 

go into effect. 

Also, in terms of the degree of socio-economic class 

desegregation taking place, there are major differences between 

within-district plans that are usually implemented in large urban 

school districts with high concentrations of low-income populations 

and cross-district desegregation plans, which allow inner-city 

blacks to attend wealthier suburban schools. While most of the 

studies analyzed in this paper control for SES, the control is only 

placed on the black students and not on their white classmates in 

the desegregated schools. Meanwhile, the long-term effects for 

black students of attending a desegregated school with low-or 

working-class white students could be substantially different from 

the effects of attending an upper-middle class white school. 

 



  

In order to accurately evaluate how black students are 

affected by integration, the distinction between which kind of plan 

the students were involved in is crucial. In two of the studies 

reviewed: here (Crain and Mahard, 1978; Dawkins, 1983), the 

researchers make a concerted effort to control for “the 

self-selection bias, and a number of the researchers attempt to 

compensate for regional differences by dividing the data into 

separate Northern and Southern sets. Also, four of the studies do 

not use the longitudinal data sets but rather concentrate on one 

city or metropolitan area. Two such studies are based on Project 

Concern in Hartford, CT, a cross-district desegregation program 

with a true experimental design. Still, overall, the findings 

presented in this literature are less convincing as a result of the 

self-selection factor. 

In addition, only two of the studies contain any information 

concerning how long the respondents attended desegregated schools, 

and one of these studies looked at high school seniors who had been 

desegregated only one year (Falk, 1978). Meanwhile, two studies 

(Crain and Mahard, 1978; Braddock and McPartland, 1989) stress the 

importance of desegregating students at an early age in order to 

achieve significant results. 

Despite these shortcoming, there are highly significant 

findings in the literature, some of which are verified by more than 

one study. Because this body of research covers various stages of 

young blacks' lives, it provides substantial evidence that 

attending a desegregated school can break the cycle of perpetual 

 



  

segregation for black students at different levels and in different 

ways: by impacting on their aspirations, their social and 

professional networks, and their educational and occupational 

attainment. The research presented in this paper analyzes the 

differences between the opportunities available to and the 

decisions made by segregated versus desegregated blacks. The 

studies are divided into three main categories: 

1) Educational and Occupational Aspirations of High School 

Students 

2) Choice of Integrated College and Educational Attainment 

3) Occupational Attainment and Adult Social Networks 

This organization allows us to trace the theory of the 

perpetuation of segregation chronologically through the lives of 

black students. 

I EDUCATIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL ASPIRATIONS 
  

The four papers that examine the differences between 

segregated and desegregated black students aspirations builds a 

solid foundation for the literature on the long-term effects of 

school desegregation. Braddock and McPartland (1981) point out that 

the black-white split in career choices -- more "socially" oriented 

and public sector careers for blacks and more enterprising, 

investigative private sector careers for whites -- has its roots 

in the secondary school experience, when students begin talking 

about what kind of jobs they would prefer and whether or not they 

 



  

plan to attend college. Gottfredson's (1978) study of occupational 

development demonstrates that black and white students hold similar 

occupational expectations and values when they are in elementary 

school, but these interests ‘begin to diverge toward traditional 

race and sex stereotypes by the end of high school. The following 

four studies attempt to measure the impact of desegregation on 

these race-specific sspiiations: Three of these studies also 

examine the degree to which desegregated blacks have more realistic 

aspirations and methods of Anis their goals. 

In “his paper on mobility attitudes of segregated and 

desegregated black students, Falk (1978) hypothesizes that 

desegregated black students will have educational and occupational 

aspirations that are lower than segregated blacks but that the 

desegregated students will give higher priority to post-secondary 

education as a way of achieving their goals. Yet Falk's study of 

57 black students who were desegregated during their junior and 

senior years of high school and a control group of 77 segregated 

black students in rural Texas demonstrates that while the average 

educational aspirations and expectations of desegregated blacks are 

slightly lower than bhose ot searepated blacks, the difference was 

statistically insignificant (See Appendix A). Furthermore, Falk 

finds that the occupational aspirations and expectations of the 

desegregated group of students were, in general, higher than those 

of their segregated peers. There was also little support for his 

hypothesis that the desegregated group would place a greater 

importance on education. 

10 

 



  

It is important to note that Falk provides no information on 

how the students in this sample were desegregated -- whether the 

plan was mandatory or voluntary -- and how the students who were 

desegregated were chosen to participate. Also, any conclusions to 

be drawn from this study should be tempered by the fact that these 

students were desegregated very late in their secondary school 

experience. Still, Falk's findings disprove his hypothesis that 

desegregated blacks will have lower educational and occupational 

aspirations -- an hypothesis based on the theory that placing black 

students in an integrated school environment, which is often times 

more academically competitive, will cause them to lose confidence 

in their own ability. 

In a more sophisticated study using the National Longitudinal 

Survey of the 1972 senior classes from 1200 randomly selected high 

schools (NLS72), Dawkins (1983) employed a multivariate regression 

analysis to assess the effect of school desegregation on the 

occupational expectations of 3,119 black high school seniors. 

The main dependent variable =-- occupational expectations -- 

was measured by the survey question, "What kind of work will you 

be doing when you are 30 years old?" Independent variables included 

school desegregation, social class, community size, high school 

curriculum, self-concept of ability to compete, and educational 

aspirations. Zero-order correlations show that both male and female 

black students who attended desegregated schools were more likely 

to expect that they will enter a professional occupation such as 

accounting, medicine, law, or engineering (See Appendix B) -- 

11 

 



  

» 

occupations that blacks are traditionally much less likely to enter 

than whites. 

But when a regression analysis was used to assess the effects 

of the various independent variables on the expectations of males 

and females in different regions of the country, Dawkins found that 

relative to other factors, school desegregation appears to only 

have a significantly positive influence on nontraditional 

occupational expectations for black males who attended southern 

schools (F = 3.526). This pattern, however, does not hold for 

southern or non-southern females (F =.17 and F =.31, respectively) 

or non-southern males (F =.018) (See Appendix C). 

Dawkins concludes that the segregation of schools and other 

institutions may be part of a "developmental process" that channels 

black students' aspirations toward a "narrow range of traditional 

occupations that are low in prestige and compensation." Although 

this study reveals differences in the non-traditional expectations 

of segregated and desegregated blacks, says Dawkins, the 

introduction of other socialization factors indicates that the 

development of aspirations is more complex (p.110). Because Dawkins 

employed a national data set, which does not provide information 

on the various methods used to desegregated the schools the 

respondents attended, his use of control variables was important 

to try and minimize the self-selection bias of black students who 

desegregated themselves voluntarily. Yet because there is no 

information on what type of desegregation plans these black 

students were involved in or if some of them lived in integrated 

12 

 



  

neighborhoods and therefore attended a naturally desegregated 

school, it 1s difficult to know if the independent variables 

employed in this study are capable of accurately eliminating 

without over compensating for self selection among black students. 

A third study of aspirations by Gable, et.al. (1983) found 

significantly higher levels of career aspirations and significantly 

more consistent career planning and progression among desegregated 

black students who participated in "Project Concern, a 

cross-district busing plan in Hartford, CT. The program, which 

began in 1966, was designed as an experiment involving 265 black 

students who were bused to 35 schools in five suburban communities. 

Participants were randomly selected from two Hartford elementary 

schools in low-income sections of the city. Gable, et.al.'s 

sample consisted of three groups of black students who graduated 

from high schools in the Hartford metropolitan area during the 

years of 1977-79: 45 graduates of Project Concern suburban schools, 

45 Project Concern dropouts who graduated from Hartford Public 

Schools, and 30 Hartford school graduates who were non-participants 

in the program. The study was conducted in the spring of 1980, when 

questionnaires pertaining to career aspirations, consistency of 

career planning, and career patterns were sent to prospective 

respondents. 

Measuring career aspirations on the North-Hatt Occupational 

Rating Scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being professional occupations and 

10 being janitor and trash collector, Gable,et.al. asked students, 

"When you were in high school, what type of job or career did you 

13 

 



  

want to have after high school?" They found that 64 percent of the 

Project Concern graduates, 54 percent of the program dropouts, and 

only 32 percent of the nonparticipants aspired to occupations in 

the upper six ranks. The difference between the Project Concern 

graduates and the nonparticipants was statistically significant 

{p<.05). 

Responses to the question of "What type of job or career would 

you like to have five years from now?" however, showed virtually 

no variation among the three groups, with 62 percent of the Project 

Concern graduates, 62 percent of the dropouts, and 63 percent of 

the non-participants stating they wanted to have jobs/careers in 

the upper six ranks of the rating scale. 

Yet perhaps one of the most important findings of this study 

is that the career choices of the non-participants tended to be 

much less "realistic" in terms of the actions they had already 

taken to reach these goals. For instance, the "career patterns" -- 

work history, postsecondary education, etc. that would lead to the 

attainment of occupational choices -- of the members of the three 

groups varied significantly. Using categories of "consistent, 

inconsistent, or mixed," Gable,et.al. found that only 37 percent 

of the nonparticipants, as opposed to 67 percent of the program 

graduates and 80 percent of the program dropouts, were consistent 

in their career planning patterns. In addition, a higher percentage 

of Project Concern graduates (72 percent) reported some type of 

post-secondary education and/or training than the dropout group (34 

percent) and the nonparticipants (53 percent). This finding, 

14 

 



  

however, is not significant at the .05 level. 

The Gable,et.al. study of Project Concern is particularly 

convincing because the black students who were desegregated in 

Hartford were randomly selected. Hence, the possibility of a self- 

selection bias is minimized except to the degree that it affects 

the staying power of students in the predominantly white suburban 

schools. Yet, the comparisons drawn between the program 

participants and those who dropped out of the suburban schools 

allows that bias to be analyzed. The large differences in the 

consistency of career patterns between non-participants and those 

who had dropped out of the desegregation program suggests that even 

a short-term break in the cycle of perpetual segregation can have 

a strong impact on black students' outlook and goals. 

The next study, Hoelter (1982) takes the discussion of career 

paths one step further by analyzing the "rationality" of segregated 

and desegregated black students' aspirations. Hoelter demonstrates 

that the relationship between educational and occupational 

aspirations for desegregated blacks is more "rational" and 

resembles that of white students more than does that of segregated 

blacks. 

Using questionnaire data from 382 male high school seniors -- 

174 segregated black students and 208 desegregated students, half 

of whom were black -- in Louisville, KY, Hoelter developed a study 

of "rational" aspirations using the racial composition of the 

school as the independent variable. Control variables include 

educational and occupational aspirations, father's occupations, 

15 

 



  

father's education, family income, academic ability, grade-point 

average, parental and peer influence on educational plans, and 

perception of teacher's evaluation of their academic ability. All 

of the desegregated students were participating in a mandatory 

busing plan. (There were no significant differences between 

segregated and desegregated black students on the status origin 

variables, although family income and father's occupational 

prestige were slightly higher for the desegregated group and 

father's education is slightly higher for the segregated group). 

Hoelter asks whether segregated/desegregated educational 

environments effect rational plans of action pertaining to status 

outcomes. He states that the knowledge students need concerning the 

association between education and occupational attainment is 

usually transmitted through interaction with students, school 

personnel and certain persons outside the school system (e.g. 

parents) and is more prevalent within environments linked to goal 

orientations represent those of the dominant white community -- 

i.e. the predominantly white school. 

He hypothesizes, therefore, that school desegregation will break 

into the cycle of segregation by alleviating one of the mechanisms 

that perpetuates racial isolation -- the lack of information 

concerning educational and occupational opportunities and how to 

obtain specific goals related to education and careers. 

Hoelter's zero-order correlations between educational and 

occupational aspirations for whites is .639, for desegregated 

blacks is .470, and for segregated blacks is .361. While these 

16 

 



  

findings are not statistically significant, Hoelter argues that 

they tentatively support his hypothesis. 

Hoelter's second hypothesis, that the effects of predictors 

on educational and occupational aspirations are greater for whites 

and desegregated blacks, is more strongly supported. Among whites, 

all of the control variables positively affect educational 

aspirations while academic ability, academic performance, and 

father's occupation positively influence occupational expectations. 

Among desegregated blacks, academic performance positively affects 

educational aspirations while occupational aspirations are 

positively affected by father's occupation, academic ability, 

parental influence and peer plans. Meanwhile, for segregated 

blacks, academic performance, parental influence and peer plans 

have a positive effect on educational aspirations, but only family 

income and academic ability have positive effects on occupational 

aspirations. 

Hoelter concludes that "rational" planning in relation to 

educational and occupational attainment is most characteristic of 

whites, least characteristic of segregated blacks, and that 

desegregated blacks fall somewhere in between. This finding 

suggests the perpetuation of status inequality among blacks who 

remain segregated from the knowledge necessary for rational plans 

of action pertaining to status outcomes. 

Section I Conclusions 
  

Major Findings: 

1) Desegregated black students set their occupational expectations 

17 

 



  

higher than segregated 

2) Desegregated black students' occupational aspirations are more 

realistically related to their skills and educational background 

than those of segregated black students 

The four studies on educational and occupational aspirations 

provide strong evidence that attending a racially desegregated high 

school raises black students' aspirations. Despite the "common 

sense" hypothesis that the greater degree of academic (and perhaps 

social) competition within integrated schools will lessen the" 

self-confidence of black students and thereby lower their 

aspirations (Falk, 1978), the data suggest the opposite to be true. 

These studless intimate that higher aspirations are contagious (i.e. 

perpetuated) and that going to school with students from families 

with more access to information on higher-status employment can 

serve as an eye-opening experience, causing some black students to 

aim for less traditional occupations. 

This conclusion coupled with the finding that desegregated 

black students tend to have more realistic strategies for attaining 

the goals to which they aspire, further reinforces the perpetuation 

theory by demonstrating that access to one desegregated institution 

provides black students with the necessary information for 

obtaining access to other traditionally white domains, especially 

higher status jobs. Still, the less favorable results of Dawkin's 

multiple regression analysis underscores the possibility that many 

of these findings might not hold up under more rigorous 

examination. 

18 

 



  

II. CHOICE OF COLLEGE AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT 
  

This area of the literature on the long-term effects of school 

desegregation tests a critical element of the perpetuation theory - 

- the link between the racial balance of the high school attended 

and participation in higher education. The first three of the seven 

studies on the college attendance and matriculation rates of 

desegregated black students are mainly concerned with whether these 

students attend desegregated or integrated colleges. One of these 

studies also’ examines what academic majors black college students 

select and whether that decision is affected by having attended a 

desegregated high school. Two of these papers compare two- and 

four-year college attendance. The following four studies focus more 

intensely on college survival and educational attainment. 

In 1980 Braddock published a paper entitled "The Perpetuation 

of Segregation Across Levels of Education: A Behavioral Assessment 

of the Contact-Hypothesis," in which he analyzes survey data from 

253 randomly selected black students enrolled in two predominantly 

black and two predominantly white colleges in Florida. Braddock 

constructs a model of "determinants of attendance" at desegregated 

versus segregated colleges using structural equations and multiple 

regression analysis. The model contains five causal steps: 

1) socioeconomic level and sex -- exogenous variables 

2) high school racial composition 

3) high school grades 

4) financial aid, college cost, and college reputation. 

5) predominant racial compositions of the college attended, which 

19 

 



  

is coded as a dummy dependent variable, with predominantly white 

institutions (PWI) = 1 and predominantly black institutions (PBI) 

= 0. 

Braddock finds supporting evidence for the self-perpetuating 

tendencies of black students' early childhood exposure (or lack of 

exposure) to people of other races. Among the predetermined 

variables in the model, high school racial composition exhibits one 

of the largest (v2.3) direct effects on attendance at a 

predominantly white college. Only high school grades (.23) and 

college costs (-.27) show larger effects. 

High school racial composition's effect on attendance 
at PWI's is mediated only slightly (.01l) by the academic 
performance measure -- grade point average. This is true 
even though, as we might expect, high school percent 
white is significantly inversely related (-.13) to class 
rank. This finding bolsters the argument that 
desegregation practice affords black students the 
opportunity to develop confidence in their scholastic 
abilities and their adaptive and coping skills in 
majority white settings even though their scholastic 
performances are likely to gain them less recognition 
than they could expect to receive in predominantly or all 
black educational settings (p.184). 

The remaining independent variables in the model -- SES, sex, 

college reputation, etc. -- failed to mediate the direct effects 

of high school racial composition on choice of desegregated versus 

segregated college. Furthermore, Braddock notes that the "degree 

of desegregation," or the percentage of white students in the high 

school of the black respondent, appears to have an incremental 

effect on the black student's choice of a predominantly white 

college. In other words, the proportion of blacks from "highly 

desegregated" high schools -- those more than 75 percent white - 

20 

 



  

- who attend predominantly white colleges (.70) "is slightly more 

than double the proportion of blacks (.33), from highly segregated 

(<25 percent white) high schools" (p.185). 

The second study on the effects of school desegregation on 

black students' college attendance (Braddock & McPartland, 1982), 

like the Dawkins (1983) study above, employed the NLS72 database, 

drawing on survey information from more than 3,000 black students. 

Using a regression analysis and controlling for the sex, SES, and 

academic qualifications of the students, Braddock and McPartland 

find that the effect of attending a desegregated school on black 

students' higher education attainment is small in both the South 

(B =.02) and the North (B =.09). Although the effect approaches 

statistical significance in the North, social class background and 

academic achievement test scores are clearly the major determinants 

of years of college attainment. 

Yet, in terms of attainment at predominantly white colleges 

only, Braddock and McPartland find that the net effect of 

elementary and secondary school desegregation is positive and 

significant for both southern (B =.15; p <.001) and northern black 

students (B =.11; p < .05). Moreover, in the South, early school 

desegregation appears to be of roughly equal importance to SES and 

academic qualification as a determinant of years of attainment in 

a desegregated college. In the North, achievement test scores are 

shown as the major determinant of the years of attainment in a 

predominantly white college followed by high school grades, racial 

composition of high schools and SES. According to Braddock and 

21 

 



  

McPartland, one obvious explanation for this finding is that there 

are very few predominantly black four-year colleges in the North 

and therefore fewer alternatives for northern black students. 

There 1s one concern. Some of the increase in college 

attendance for desegregated blacks in the North is attributable to 

greater attendance at pradoiinantly white two-year colleges. Thus, 

if a year spent in a two-year school is less valuable than a spent 

in a four-year school, then some of desegregation's positive effect 

in the increase in years of college completed must be discounted. 

Another Study (Braddock, 1987) of the higher education 

experiences of desegregated black students uses the more recent 

longitudinal data from Nich School and Beyond -- a national sample 

of students who vweie sophomores and seniors in 1980. Follow ups 

were conducted in 1982 and 1984. Black students accounted for 3,119 

of the students surveyed -- 42 percent of these black students were 

enrolled in northern high schools. 

Braddock's analysis of college enrollment patterns (See 

Appendix D) reveals that segregation is perpetuated across various 

education levels, and that attendance at a predominantly white high 

school is related to sbtendanie at predominantly white colleges. 

This pattern is consistent for both the two-year and four-year 

colleges, although is stronger at the two-year level. 

A multiple regression analysis reveals that in both the North 

and the South, the racial composition of a black student's high 

school exhibits a much larger effect on the racial make up of the 

college attended than any of the other factors measured -- sex, 

22 

 



  

SES, high school test scores, high school grades, and proximity of 

the college to home. 

Yet, these findings also show that the black graduates of 

desegregated high schools who go on to higher education are 

somewhat less likely to attend four-year colleges than their 

counterparts from predominantly black high schools (58 percent 

versus 61 percent). In fact, desegregated black students in the 

North are more likely to attend white college at the two-year level 

only. As for the South, Braddock attributes the "unexpected 

pattern" of higher two-year college attendance among black 

graduates of predominantly white schools largely to the strong 

tendency for such students to choose a predominantly white college, 

"even to the extent of enrolling at a two-year white college 

instead of a four-year black college" (p.1l0). 

Braddock also measured the extent to which attending a 

predominantly white high school affects black students’ choices of 

college majors, and whether desegregated blacks are more likely to 

major in non-traditional fields such as the sciences and 

technology. The findings demonstrate that black graduates of 

majority white high schools are five times as likely to major in 

architecture and nearly four times as likely to major in computer 

and information sciences as black graduates of segregated schools. 

Results are smaller and more mixed for fields such as health 

occupations and health sciences, mathematics, engineering, physical 

sciences and pre-medical and pre-dental programs. Among 

non-technical fields, graduates of segregated school were more 

23 

 



  

likely to major in art, music, psychology and the social sciences 

than their desegregated counterparts. In vocational fields, male 

graduates of desegregated schools are twice as likely to major in 

computer programming and five times as likely to major in 

electronics as segregated high school graduates. These students are 

also less likely to enroll in traditional black male programs such 

as auto mechanics or welding. For women, desegregated students were 

less frequently found in secretarial/clerical training programs or 

home economics. 

A multiple regression analysis (See Appendix E), which 

includes the independent variables of sex, SES, high school tests, 

high school grades, high school region, high school racial 

composition, and college racial composition, shows that in two-year 

colleges, high school racial composition is second only to high 

school test scores as a determinant of black students majoring in 

technical and scientific sub-fields. In four-year colleges, sex and 

high school test scores play an even larger role in steering black 

students toward these majors. 

Braddock's findings provide some of the strongest evidence in 

favor of perpetuation theory. In this study, Braddock demonstrates 

the positive impact of school desegregation on black students’ 

likelihood of attending a predominantly white two-year college and 

majoring in a "non-traditional" black field. Evidence as to whether 

these same students would attend a four-year college if they had 

graduated from a predominantly black school is not available, nor 

is any evaluation of which type of institution will enable these 

24 

 



  

students to attain their career goals. 

The next study examined in this section (Crain and Mahard 

1978) focuses less on the type of college desegregated black 

students attend and more on their success and matriculation in 

higher education. The study is based on a nationally representative 

random sample of 2,150 black high school seniors from the 484 high 

schools found in NLS72. (Follow ups were conducted in 1973, 74, and 

76.) The authors supplemented the NLS survey with U.S. Department 

of Education data on the racial composition of the school districts 

attended by the survey respondents. 

Using three dependent variables -- black students' high school 

average achievement tests scores, black students! college 

attendance rates, and black students' college survival rates (the 

percentage matriculating to the junior year) -- and eight 

independent variables, including measurements of the percentage of 

white students in the black students' classes at various grade 

levels, Crain and Mahard control for mean SES and school district 

size. A regression analysis (See Appendix F) relating the dependent 

variables and high school percentage white reveals: a 

non-significant negative relationship between the «college 

attendance rates of southern black males and the percentage of 

white students in their high schools. 

As for the college survival rates of southern black males, the 

researchers again find a negative correlation between matriculation 

to the junior year of college and the percentage of white students 

in a black student's high school. In fact, in the south, Crain and 

25 

 



  

Mahard found that college outcomes are higher for graduates of 

all-black high schools =-- college attendance rates by 5 percent 

and college survival rates by 6 percent. 

Yet, the data on northern schools produces opposite findings: 

College attendance rates were 8 percent higher (66 compared to 58 

percent) for black graduates of desegregated schools, and college 

survival rates are 10 percent higher for blacks from predominantly 

white schools. 

A multiple regression analysis incorporating the rest of the 

independent variables generates similar regional discrepancies on 

the effect of high school racial composition on black students 

college attendance and survival. The authors note that these 

findings raise serious questions as to whether the more 

"intentional" desegregation plans in the South have the same effect 

as desegregation resulting from the assignment of black students 

to nearby bi-racial schools. But they also note that little such 

desegregation had occurred in the North prior by 1972. Hence, a 

lack of "intentional" desegregation translates into a high degree 

of de facto desegregation, which raises obvious questions of 

self-selection factors contributing to the positive findings in the 

North. 

Crain and Mahard (p.90) attempt to address the tesue of 

self-selection by reanalyzing their data according to racial 

integration by school district rather than by school. This 

analysis, the authors argue, will allow them to account for the 

differences in opportunities available to black students within and 

26 

 



  

between school districts. They state that if the relationship 

between racial composition and student outcomes 1s due to 

self-selection they should find that low segregation districts do 

not differ from high segregation districts in black student 

outcomes. Yet, what they found is that for college attendance, 

there is a smaller gap between whites and blacks in low segregation 

districts, 

They conclude that the positive effect of predominantly white 

schools on black student performance in the North cannot be 

attributed to self-selection, and that the low performance of 

blacks in predominantly white schools in the South may be due in 

part to differences between school districts. 

In an article commenting on the Crain and Mahard study, 

Eckland (1978) points out that "it is not the percentage of whites 

in a school that necessarily affects black performance, but WHO 

these whites are" (p.123). He states that it cannot be assumed that 

a district-level analysis will adequately control for 

self-selection, since it is not only blacks but, perhaps to a 

greater degree, the whites who self-select. 

Self-selection is perhaps even more of an issue in an earlier 

study by Crain (1971), which entailed a survey of 1,600 black 

adults living in Northern metropolitan areas. Crain found that 

those who had attended integrated schools were more likely to have 

graduated from high school, attended college, and scored higher on 

verbal tests than those who attended segregated schools. 

Respondents were divided into three groups: those who were born in 

27 

 



  

the North, those born in the South but moved North before age 10, 

those who migrated North after their 10th birthday. A school was 

considered integrated if it was at least half white and did not 

experience massive white flight at the time of attendance. 

Crain's findings show that nearly half (48 percent) of the 

respondents from segregated schools did not finish high school, 

while only 36 percent of the respondents from integrated schools 

did not graduate. In similar fashion, 32 percent of Northern-born 

men from integrated schools went on to college, while only 24 

percent of Northern-born men from segregated schools did so. Among 

Southern migrants, the difference in college attendance for 

graduates of integrated versus segregated schools is even greater: 

30 percent versus 3 percent. (Differences for women are similar but 

smaller.) "Mixed" respondents -- those who attended a segregated 

elementary school but integrated high schools (or visa versa) -- 

seemed more like the integrated group than the segregated one; 

their dropout rates were low and their rates of college attendance 

are high. After controlling for a number of variables, Crain 

found that only a small part of these differences between 

segregated and desegregated blacks was due to differences in family 

backgrounds. Black students from integrated schools do not come 

from higher-status families than those in segregated schools. For 

instance, among the Northern-born respondents, 42 percent of those 

who went to integrated school had mothers who had completed high 

school, compared to 38 percent of alumni of segregated schools. 

These findings, Crain contends, dispel concerns about the impact 

28 

 



  

of self selection. 

Crain also points out that his findings fly in the face of 

conventional wisdom, which supposes that desegregated blacks may 

be less successful because of discrimination from white classmates 

and teachers or because of lower self-esteem that results from 

making worse grades than whites. He concludes that the higher 

educational attainment and academic achievement of blacks who 

attend desegregated schools is only partly the result of a higher 

quality of education or the higher socio-economic status of peers 

in the integrated schools; "it also occurs because integration has 

a decisive impact on what a Negro thinks it means to {ive ih a 

white man's world" (p.25). 

In a similar, but nation-wide, study of 1400 black adults who 

had been surveyed as college freshmen in 1971, Green (1982) reports 

on a follow-up survey conducted in the winter of 1979-80. While the 

71 survey of respondents as college freshmen had focused on 

parental attitudes and educational and occupational attainment, the 

follow-up survey asked the young black adults about their own 

educational attainment, occupations, and income. The later survey 

also asked respondents to recall the racial composition of their 

high schools and the neighborhoods where they grew up. 

A simple regression employed to identify factors predicting 

undergraduate academic performance found the three most influential 

variables to be high school grades (r = .34), sex (female r = .21), 

and attending a predominantly minority high school (r = -.11). 

Green concludes that although blacks who attended minority high 

29 

 



  

» 

schools had better high school grades, they usually ended up with 

lower college grades and felt they were less well-prepared for 

college than their peers from integrated schools. "One consistent 

finding is the negative impact of minority secondary schools on the 

academic performance of black college students" (p.65). Green 

suggests that such findings possibly result from minority high 

schools' tendency to inflate grades. Still, attending a minority 

high school did not appear to influence other educational outcomes 

such as persistence in higher education and entry into graduate 

school. 

The final paper in this section on educational attainment 

(Wilson, 1979) employs data from a nationally representative sample 

of male students from 87 public high schools. The total sample size 

was 2,213, 256 of which were black. The data is longitudinal, with 

the first interviews conducted in 1966 when the students were in 

10th grade; the final of four follow-up interviews was conducted 

in the summer of 1970, one year after the students graduated from 

high school. Attrition rates -- about equal for blacks and whites 

-- were approximately 27 percent. Interview questions attempted to 

measure educational aspirations, educational attainment, 

self-esteem, self-concept of ability, academic performance 

(G.P.A.), mental : ability" or 1.Q., socio-economic level, 

disciplinary problems, and "pacing" or whether students had been 

held back or moved forward a year in school. 

Wilson's analysis of the data was designed to assess how the 

educational attainment process differs for blacks in segregated 

30 

 



  

» » 

versus desegregated schools and blacks of different social classes. 

He employed an analysis using an educational attainment model, 

similar in design to a status attainment model, with five causal 

steps of analysis: 

1) SES level and mental ability 

2) academic performance and pacing (advancement from one grade to 

the next) 

3) self-concept of ability, self-esteem and disciplinary problems 

in school 

4) educational aspirations 

5) educational attainment. 

He then examined the interaction effects between 

segregated/integrated school context and high/low SES on the causal 

variables in each stage of the model. Looking at coefficients of 

variation, Wilson found that integration exerted little direct 

influence on the black attainment processes, although integration 

was positively related to self-concept of ability and educational 

attainment, but negatively related to self-esteem. Yet, when he 

employed a regression analysis to test for the interaction effects 

of integration on the five-step educational attainment model for 

the black subsample, he discovered that SES, pacing and 

disciplinary problems are the three variables that carry more 

weight in the integrated setting and all are strongly positively 

related in the integrated school. For instance, blacks in 

integrated schools who are- held back a grade are more likely to 

drop out than those held back in segregated schools, while blacks 

31 

 



  

who skipped a grade in integrated schools were more likely to go 

on to college than those who skipped a grade in segregated schools. 

Meanwhile, integration increases disciplinary problems, which 

disrupts . the ‘attainment process. But the coefficient of 

socioeconomic level on educational attainment is twice as large in 

the integrated as in the segregated subsample. According to Wilson, 

this finding suggests that parental achievement is more easily 

converted into advantages for offspring when the children attend 

desegregated schools. Yet it's important to note that, based on 

Wilson's findings, school desegregation in and of itself will not 

affect class bias in aspirations, which affect whites as well as 

blacks. The effect of racial desegregation, therefore, is to clear 

the way for social class to have the same stratification effect on 

blacks as it has on whites, which is good news for middle- and 

upper-class blacks only. 

Although the differences produced by the integrated/segregated 

context of the black subsample were independent of those created 

by the upper/lower class status, the differences mirrored each 

other, with the upper class status being more powerfully effected 

by disciplinary problems and pacing. The class interaction effects, 

however, were generally weaker than the desegregation interaction 

effects. 

The greatest shortcomings of the Wilson study are 1) that he 

relied on the self-reporting of students for academic achievement 

and 2) the subsamples of black students are so small as to create 

suspicion that some of the results are due to sampling 

32 

 



  

i i 

deficiencies. Wilson states that the self-reporting bias created 

"untrustworthy results" in measuring the effects of academic 

performance, self-concept of ability, and self-esteem on 

educational attainment for integrated/segregated blacks. Therefore, 

attempts to analyze the degree of realism associated with students’ 

educational aspirations are unsuccessful. 

Section II Conclusions 
  

Major Findings: 

1) Black graduates of segregated schools are more likely to attend 

segregated colleges. 

2) Black graduates of desegregated schools are more likely to 

attend desegregated colleges, but in the North these predominantly 

white college are more likely to be two-year institutions. 

To the extent that the perpetuation theory is correct, and that 

a black student who attends a desegregated college is more likely 

to gain social and professional contacts that will help him oF her 

attain higher occupaticnal status and income later in life, the 

evidence presented in this section, with the exception of Crain and 

Mahard's (1978) finding on Southern students, is quite favorable 

toward desegregating students during elementary and secondary 

school. Still, the findings of Braddock and McPartland (1982) and 

Braddock (1987) concerning the greater tendency of desegregated 

blacks to head toward two-year as opposed to four-years colleges, 

especially in the North is disturbing. To the extent that the 

average SES of the black students' white classmates in a two-year 

versus four-year predominantly white college vary substantially, 

33 

 



  

. » 

the "value" of building social contacts with these students may be 

diminished in the predominantly white two-year college. Issues of 

classmates' social class and the quality of education available at 

two-year colleges in Ht county; which are not addressed in this 

literature, make these findings and the classless basis of 

perpetuation theory more tenuous. The total educational attainment 

may be greater for desegregated rather than segregated blacks, but 

the pay Off for that educRE ional experience may not be. 

Meanwhile Braddock's findings on major fields of study is 

promising and underscores the need for more research on the 

differences in the educational experiences between two- and 

four-year colleges -- both desegregated and all-black. 

III. OCCUPATIONAL ATTAINMENT AND ADULT SOCIAL NETWORKS 
  

While the first two sections of our analysis highlight causal 

links between school desegregation and black students' aspirations 

and college AeLen dates He must now ask whether segregation 

actually perpetuates itself into the adult lives of blacks who 

attended segregated schools. Does lack of exposure to people of 

other races send black students on so rigid a trajectory that we 

can clearly differentiate their adult occupations and earnings on 

the basis of whether or not they attended segregated schools? Do 

the differences cited between segregated and desegregated black 

students in the research presented above accumulate and build upon 

themselves to create distinguishable long-term effects? This final 

34 

 



  

section examines the findings of several studies that focus on the 

farthest reaching effects of school racial balance. 

The earliest research on this topic was conducted by Crain 

(1970) when he examined data from a 1966 survey of 1,231 blacks, 

ages 21 to 45, who lived in northern metropolitan areas, had 

attended northern high schools, and who reported having an 

occupation. Using data from the 1960 census, Crain established a 

list of "traditional" black occupations -- mostly lower blue-collar 

jobs such as service workers and laborers or lower white-collar 

jobs such as clerical workers. "Non-traditional" black occupations 

include professionals, managers, salesworkers, and craftsmen. 

In a simple analysis of the relationship between current 

occupation and having attended a segregated or integrated high 

school, Crain found that one-third of the respondents who had 

attended integrated high schools were in three non-traditional 

black occupations: crafts, sales, ‘and the professions. Only 

one-fifth of the respondents who had attended segregated schools 

were employed in these fields. Black women from integrated schools 

were also much more likely to enter the professions, but otherwise, 

they were not more likely to have non-traditional jobs. 

Crain also found that blacks who attended integrated high 

schools have higher occupational prestige and high incomes. For 

instance, the life-time income of alumni of integrated schools was 

about $10,000 higher than that of alumni from segregated schools. 

After controlling for background variables such as age, stability 

of family of origin, and educational attainment, Crain estimates 

35 

 



  

that about two-third of the difference in 1ncome between the 

desegregated-segregated adults is due to educational attainment. 

For those respondents who did not attend college, the alumni of the 

integrated school had a much higher percentage of friends who had 

graduated from college (62 versus 44 percent for male respondents 

and 47 versus 33 percent for females). 

Given that the respondents in this study had attended high 

school during the 1950's and early 60's in the North, the chances 

that any of these blacks were involuntarily bused to a desegregated 

school are slim. Hence, the findings of this study must be tempered 

by the fact that there is a large self-selection bias inherent in 

the results. Even after the data are controlled for several 

independent variables, it's quite likely that the black respondents 

who attended integrated schools vary considerably in terms cof 

racial attitudes, parents' education, and father's occupation from 

the segregated school respondents. 

A more recent study by Crain and Strauss (1985) on the same 

subject is less contaminated by self-selection bias. Like the Gable 

study profiled in Section I, the Crain and Strauss paper is based 

on the experimentally designed school desegregation program in 

Hartford, Project Concern. As was mentioned in the earlier 

description of Project Concern, the desegregated black students 

were randomly selected in 1966 from Hartford schools in low-income 

neighborhoods to attend predominantly white suburban schools. (Only 

5 percent of the selected group did not participate in the 

program). At the same time, a control group was created. Additional 

36 

 



  

randomly selected groups of students were desegregated between 1968 

and 1971, but control groups were not created for each of these 

cohorts. Using Hartford school district records, Crain and Strauss 

constructed control groups for these later cohorts of desegregated 

students and traced all students (including those who dropped out 

of the desegregation program and those who refused to participate) 

and their parents (700 in total) to 1983, when they had finished 

secondary school. 

In the first stage of the study, which compares just the 

graduates of Project Concern to the graduates of the Hartford 

public schools, the findings reveal that participation in Project 

Concern appears to have had no effect on unemployment rates, but 

the graduates of Project Concern were ‘much more likely to be 

enrolled in college full-time in 1985. For those students who did 

not go on to college, the Project Concern students were more likely 

to be in nontraditional black occupations. For instance, the four 

"whitest" occupations according to demographic data from the Census 

Bureau are sales, private sector professional-managerial, 

entertainment, and high private sector white-collar positions. 

These jobs were held by only 8 percent of the male control group 

but 23 percent of the male Project Concern participants. For 

females, 20 percent of the control group and 34 percent of the 

experiment group held such occupations. Also, female Project 

Concern participants (but not males) were much more likely to say 

they worked with mostly white co-workers than females in the 

control group (72 percent versus 58 percent), but both male and 

37 

 



  

female participants described their chances of promotions as being 

good at a significantly higher rate than members of the control 

group (65 percent versus 48 percent for males, and 49 percent 

versus 39 percent for females). 

Despite the unique experimental design of the Project Concern 

program and the fact that participants were randomly selected, the 

these findings are biased by self-selection because they exclude 

those students who dropped out of the program as well as control 

group students who left the Hartford public schools to attend 

private schools. 

Therefore, in the next step of the analysis, Crain and Strauss 

added data for those students who were randomly selected to 

participate in Project Concern, but who either never attended a 

suburban school or who attended and then dropped out of the program 

and returned to the Hartford schools. These students are added to 

the "experiment" group. In addition, any students from the control 

group who had dropped out of the Hartford schools or left to attend 

a private school were figured in as part of the control group. 

Once these larger samples were compiled, Crain and Strauss 

controlled for such factors as educational attainments, family 

background, and age, and found that for males, the effect ‘of 

participating in Project Concern on the likelihood of being 

employed in a private white-collar or service occupation is much 

weaker than either family background or educational attainment. For 

females, however, the opposite 1s true: Project Concern 

participation is the strongest predictor in two of the three 

38 

 



  

equations and stronger than family background in the third. 

Crain and Strauss conclude that once self-selection bias is 

removed, it appears as though school desegregation does not have 

much effect on the occupational attainment of black males except 

indirectly through educational attainment. Still, it is important 

to note that college students are missing from this sample, and the 

participants of Project Concern were much more likely to go to 

college. It is also interesting to note that Hartford's Project 

Concern is an inter-district desegregation plan, which allows 

low-income, inner-city black students to attend schools with 

middle- and upper-middle-class students. Hence, the plan involves 

socioeconomic as well as racial integration, and as Eckland (1978) 

points out, the effects of school desegregation are likely to vary 

according to the degrées of socio-economic integration. 

For instance, the authors state that one interpretation of 

their findings would be that black alumni of desegregated schools 

are more likely to be hired in positions that entail "meeting the 

public" because they will probably use less "Black English" and 

they will have the name of middle-class white high school on their 

resumes. 

These two studies indicate that blacks from desegregated 

schools are more 1likely to head toward non-traditional black 

codupations and that their pay is more likely to approximate that 

of whites. What does this tell us about the ways in which graduates 

of different schools have access to the highest paying jobs? 

How school desegregation can contribute to black students’ 

39 

 



  

| | 3 

marketability in the labor market is the topic of a 1987 study by 

Braddock and McPartland. Using a national survey of 4078 employers, 

the researchers describe the actual practices used in recruiting 

prospective employees. 

The data show that the employers' most popular methods of 

recruiting job candidates for lower- or entry-level positions are 

1) unsolicited "walk-in" applications, 2) informal referrals from 

current employees, and 3) referral from public employment agencies. 

Informal referrals and unsolicited walk-in applications are also 

among the most frequent methods used by employers in creating 

college-educated candidate pools. 

Other recruitment methods such as placing ads in newspapers 

are used less frequently and much less frequently for recruiting 

for higher level jobs. Therefore, the authors argue that for 

minorities, "social network segregation" hinders their 

opportunities at the job candidate stage (See Appendix G). 

For college-degree jobs, we find the chances are 
significantly greater that an opening will be filled by 
whites when social networks are used as a major employer 
recruitment method. But for middle level and lower level 
jobs... there is no sizable or consistent employment 
benefit to whites or minorities that depends upon whether 
the employer recruits through social networks... This is 
explained because white social networks may be tied to 
higher quality jobs than minority social networks 
(Braddock and McPartland, p.9) 

The second phase of this study entails combining the survey 

of employers with data from the National Longitudinal Survey of 

high school graduates of 1972. The researchers used the racial 

characteristics of the high school from which each black student 

graduated to identify his or her social networks as desegregated 

40 

 



  

or segregated. They then show that black high school graduates who 

used desegregated social networks to find their jobs earn, on the 

average, less 1f thelr networks are segregated than if they had not 

used networks at all, and more if they used desegregated networks 

as opposed to no networks. 

The analysis of the data, however, is based on the assumption 

that just because a black student attended a "desegregated" school, 

he or she will necessarily have integrated social networks. This 

assumption would vary largely depending on the racial makeup of the 

school and the degree to which students are "integrated" within the 

desegregated school. Also, as discussed in Section II, the value 

of desegregated social networks would be contingent on the SES of 

the white students with whom the black students are associated. 

In terms of the candidate selection process, which takes place 

after a number of candidates have been recruited and screened, 

Braddock and McPartland also find that segregated minorities are 

at a special disadvantage when employers are interested in ‘a 

candidate's previous employment experiences or references from 

school or employment officials because white employers will be less 

familiar with a black school, a black clergy, or a black firm. 

Interestingly enough, a study of those who employed 

respondents of NLS72 (Braddock, et.al. 1986) demonstrates that the 

type of high school -- inner-city or suburban -- that a black 

graduate attended does play a role in whether or not he or she will 

be hired by a white-owned business. On the basis of 1101 surveys 

from business owners ‘and personnel managers at small and large 

41 

 



  

white-owed companies across the nation, the researchers found that 

a hypothetical black male graduate of a suburban high school was 

assigned to a job roughly three and two-thirds points (based on a 

socioeconomic index) higher in occupational prestige than 

hypothetical black male graduates of inner-city high schools. 

According to the survey, 

... knowledge that a job candidate graduated from a 
suburban school with a good reputation rather than an 
inner-city school is likely to signal to employers that 
the quality of education was better in the suburban 
school, and for blacks it may also suggest to employers 
that the job candidates are likely to be more experienced 
in functioning in interracial situations (Braddock, 
et.al., p.13). 

Another study that looked at employer hiring and remuneration 

practices focused on 180 black with MBA degrees (Brown and Ford, 

1977). The authors found that black MBA's from predominantly black 

universities received starting salaries that were substantially 

lower than those of their white counterparts, while overall, the 

black MBA's received starting salaries that were, on the average, 

almost $1,000 higher than white MBA starting salaries. 

Althauser and Spivak (1975) report similar income differences 

between black male graduates of integrated and all-black colleges. 

In a study of 800 black and white male college alumni who had 

graduated between 1931 and 1964 from two integrated universities 

and one predominantly black university, Althauser and Spivak found 

that the black graduates of the predominantly black school were 

much less likely to have entered business (self-employed or 

salaried) but more likely to have entered a profession (especially 

medicine) than either the black or white graduates of the 

42 

 



  

integrated universities. The black graduates from segregated 

colleges were more than twice as likely to be in social work as the 

combined total of black graduates of the two integrated 

universities; they also tended to acquire first jobs with slightly 

less status than black or white graduates of the integrated 

institutions. 

In terms of incomes, Althauser and Spivak found that the gap 

in mean incomes between black and white graduates of the integrated 

universities ($200 -$600) (in 1957-59 dollars) to be far smaller 

than the gap in mean incomes between the white graduates and their 

black counterparts from the predominantly black university ($1,400- 

$1,600). 

A more recent study on the "social-psychological processes" 

of minority segregation in the labor market (Braddock and 

McPartland, 1989) attempts to more closely measure the perpetuation 

of segregation across institutions net of several control 

variables. The data for this analysis, based on the National 

Longitudinal Surveys Youth Cohort, includes 602 males and 472 

females from five ethnic and class homogeneous subgroups who were 

between the ages of 14 and 21 in 1979. Control variables consist 

of age, sex, employment sector, occupational level (professional, 

managerial, sales, etc...), high school racial - composition 

(majority white or majority black), community racial composition, 

race of co-workers, co-worker friendliness, and supervisor 

competence. 

The data indicate that among both white-collar and blue-collar 

43 

 



  

full-time workers, young black adults who attended segregated 

schools are less likely to have white work associates than their 

counterparts from majority white schools, although they are 

somewhat more likely to have white-collar jobs. 

In order to investigate further, the researchers employ a 

multiple regression analysis and find that in both the North and 

the South, high school racial composition is the most powerful 

determinant of occupational segregation among the variables 

presented in this model. And while this relationship is stronger 

in the North than in the South, high school racial composition is 

the only statistically significant predictor of co-worker race in 

either region (See Appendix H). 

The Green study, which was cited in Section II, also includes 

a section on the social and professional networks of blacks who 

attended segregated and desegregated high schools. He found that 

eight years after entering college, blacks who had attended 

minority high schools were less likely to be employed in racially- 

mixed work environments or to establish social relationships with 

whites. Blacks who had grown up in integrated neighborhoods were 

more likely to work in racially-mixed work environments and to 

develop social relationships with whites. High school integration 

did not, however, predict income or occupational attainment eight 

years later, nor did neighborhood integration influence college 

grades, degree attainment or income. 

Section III Conclusions 
  

Major Findings: 

44 

 



  

1) Desegregated students tend to have desegregated social and 

professional networks in later life. 

2) Desegregated blacks are more likely to find themselves in 

desegregated employment -- working with white co-workers. 

3) Desegregated students are more likely to be working in 

white-collar and professional jobs in the private sector 

(occupations less commonly held by blacks) and students from 

segregated schools are more likely to be in government and 

blue-collar jcbs. 

There is obviously a thin web that runs through this last 

section cf the literature and demonstrates than when "success" or 

occupational attainment and income are dependent on knowing the 

right people and being in the right place at the right time, school 

desegregation can and probably. does - S4cilitate black students in 

gaining access to traditionally "white" jobs. It is not clear, 

however, based on these studies of occupational attainment of 

desegregated black students, whether the social networks of the 

individual students or the biases and prejudices of the employers 

in favor of prospective employees who "act white" and who are 

graduates of predominantly white schools has a greater impact on 

the job prospects of desegregated blacks. 

It's also important to note that the self-selection bias 

discussed earlier in this paper becomes more difficult to measure 

in terms of its effects on the desegregated-versus-segregated black 

occupational attainment differences. It is quite likely, for 

instance, that some of the personal characteristics of black 

45 

 



  

students that. i.could factor into “the self-selection of a 

desegregated school --less fear of whites, more motivated toward 

achieving in. a "white world," etc... == are similar to the 

characteristics a white employer is looking for in prospective 

employers. These personality traits are not easily measured by such 

variables as SES, sex or age. 

DISCUSSION   

Beginning with the -aspirations of high school students and 

ending with tangible results of black adults' participation in the 

work force, our analysis has attempted to trace the tracks of 

perpetuation, pointing out the various junctures at which the cycle 

of segregation can be broken by black students who have access to 

information about better educational and occupational opportunities 

and who are less fearful of whites. As noted in the conclusions 

for each section, the studies examined in this review lead to some 

fairly solid oviadnedi negating the impact of school desegregation 

on the perpetuation of segregation. 

Obviously, nore research must follow -- research conducted at 

the district of metropolitan level, where researchers can better 

assess the specific impacts of various desegregation plans and 

discover whether voluntary and mandatory desegregation have 

different effects on black students educational and occupational 

aspirations and attainments. Such research would help eliminate 

much of the self-selection bias reported in the studies presented 

46 

 



  

here; it would also allow closer examination of the impact of 

soclo-economic desegregation on black students. For instance, a 

study comparing the long-term effects of a mandatory intradistrict 

busing program with those of a voluntary interdistrict plan could 

do serve two very important purposes: 

1) Allow a close evaluation of the differences between black 

students who attend desegregated schools voluntarily and those who 

are bused in a mandatory plan 

2) Begin to assess the different effects of greater socio- 

economic desegregation on black students. 

We hypothesize, based on the research presented here and 

elsewhere, that the three mechanisms of perpetual segregation -- 

lack of information about opportunities, self-deprecation, and 

fear of whites as racists =-- would and could be eliminated in a 

much more efficient, positive manner when black students are 

integrated with middle- to upper-middle-class white students as 

opposed to lower-class whites who suffer from some of the same 

isolation and alienation as lower-class blacks. 

47 

 



  

REFERENCES 
  

Althauser, Robert P. and Spivack, Sydney S. (1975) The Unequal Elites. New York: John 
Wiley & Sons. 

  

Alves, Michael J. and Willie, Charles V. (1989) Choice, decentralization and desegregation: 
The Boston controlled choice’ plan. Presented at the Conference on Choice and 
Control in American Education. University of Wisconsin-Madison: 

Braddock, Jomills Henry. (July, 1980) The perpetuation of segregation across levels of 
education: A behavioral assessment of the contact-hypothesis." Sociology of 
Education. (53) pp178-186. 

  

  

Braddock, Jomills Henry. (June, 1987) "Segregated high school experiences and black 
students’ college and major field choices. Paper presented at the National 
Conference on School Desegregation. University of Chicago. 

Braddock, Jomills Henry; Crain, Robert L.; McPartland, James M. & Dawkins, Russel L. 
(1986) Applicant race and job placement decisions: A national survey experiment. 
International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy. (6) 1. pp3-24. 
  

Braddock, Jomills Henry and McPartland, James M. (1982) Assessing school desegregation 
effects: New directions in research. JAI Press. 

Braddock, Jomills Henry and McPartland, James M. (1987) How minorities continue to 
be excluded from equal employment opportunities: Research on labor market and 
institutional barriers. Journal of Social Issues. (43) 1. ppS-39. 
  

Braddock, Jomills Henry and McPartland, James M. (1989) Social-psychological processes 
that perpetuate racial segregation: The relationship between school and employment 
desegregation. Journal of Black Studies. (19) 3. pp267-289. 
  

Brown, Harold A. and Ford, David L. (1977) An exploratory analysis of discrimination in 
the employment of black MBA graduates. Journal of Applied Psychology. (62) 1. 
ppS0-56. 

  

Crain, Robert L. (1970) School integration and occupational achievement of negroes. The 
American Journal of Sociology. (75) pp593-606. 
  

Crain, Robert L. (Winter, 1971) School integration and the academic achievement of 
negroes. Sociology of Education. (44) ppl-26. 
  

Crain, Robert L. and Mahard, Rita. (April, 1978). School racial compositions and black 
college attendance and achievement test performance. Sociology of Education. (51) 
pp81-101. 

 



  

Crain, Robert L. and Strauss, Jack. (July, 1985) School desegregation and black 
occupational attainments: Results from a long-term experiment. Baltimore: Center 
for the Social Organization of Schools. Report No. 359. 

Dawkins, Marvin P. (1983) Black students’ occupational expectations: A national study of 
the impact of school desegregation . Urban Education. (18) 1. pp98-113.   

Eckland, Bruce K. (1978). School racial composition and college attendance revisited. 
Sociology of Education. Commentary and Debates. (53) pp122-125.   

Falk, William W. (1978) Mobility attitudes of segregated and desegregated black youths. 
Journal of Negro Education. (3) pp132-142. 
  

Gable, Robert K.; Thompson, Donald L.; & Iwanicki, Edward F. (June, 1983) The effects 
of voluntary desegregation on occupational outcomes. The Vocational Guidance 
Quarterly. pp230-239. 

Gotifredson, L.S. (1978) Race and sex differences in occupational aspirations: Their 
development and consequences for occupational segregation. Baltimore: Center for 
Social Organization of Schools. 

  

Green, Kenneth C. (1982) Integration and educational attainment: A longitudinal study of 
the effects of integration on black educational attainment and occupational outcomes. 
University of California-Los Angeles. Dissertation. 

Hoelter, Jon W. (January, 1982). Segregation and rationality in black status aspiration 
process. Sociology of Education. (55) pp31-39. 
  

McPartland, James M. and Braddock, Jomills Henry. (1981) Going to college and getting 
a good job: The impact of desegregation. Effective School Desegregation: Equality, 
Quality and Feasibility. ed: Willis D. Hawley. London: Sage Publications. 
  

  

Schofield, Janet Ward. (1989) Review of research on school desegregation’s impact on 
elementary and secondary school students. Paper commissioned by the Connecticut 
State Department of Education. 

Wilson, Kenneth L. (April, 1979) The effects of integration and class on black educational 
attainment. Sociology of Education. (53) pp84-98. 
  

  

Wilson, William Julius (1989) The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, 
and Public Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 
  

 



  

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TABLE | 

Means, Standard Deviations, and F-Tests for the Desegregated and 

Segregated Groups 

    

  

      
  

DESEGREGATED SEGREGATED 
(N=57) (N=77) 

DATA - a 
\ ARIABLE WAVE X SD X! SD F P> 

Educational } 1966 4.66 1.49 4.20 1.38 3.54 .06 
Aspiration 1968 4.20 1.31 4.36 1.43 AZ" 49 

1972 4.90 1.28 5.09 1.23 81 37 
Educational } 1966 4.30 1.59 4.21 1.46 a2 93 

Expectation 1968 3.93 1.31 3.81 1.29 27 61 
1972 3.83 1.43 3.95 1.48 24 63 

Occupational } 1966 50.85 26.12 49.14 21.74 177 0.68 
Aspiration 1968 51.71 20.22 49.66 23.44 28: "1.60 

1972 52.19 21.76 45.27 19.77 3.68 .06 
Occupational } 1966 48.15 23.43 44.75 21.10 78 '.38 

Expectation 1968 48.92 18.63 42.63 22.03 3.05 08 
1972 36.25 23.55 39.38 19.22 71 40 

Educational } 1966 3.97 .78 3.79 .89 1.27 24 
Certainty 1968 4.09 79 3.92 .90 1.22% 27 

1972 3.86 .88 3.68 1.07 1.13 420 
Occupational } 1966 3.77 96 3.51 .90 2.570 2.11 

Certainty 1968 3.67 .89 3.33 91 4.70 .03 
i 1972 3.63 .90 3.33 .90 3.61 06 

School 1966 2.18 43 2.16 40 A2.c0:.73 
Curriculum 1968 2.30 .64 2.36 .58 37 .54 

Education's } 1966 2.00 1.65 1.60 1.32 2146 12 
Importance 1968 1.77 1.38 1.76 1.35 .00 98 

1972 2.33 1.86 2.39 1.91 .03 87 

The Journal of Negro Education 139 

          

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Occupational Expectations of Blacks in the First Year After High School Bok 
Graduation by Number of Grade Levels and Controlling for Sex {of 

—————— 
k, i 

Males Females #: li 

i. J grade levels with 50% § above white classmates i je. 

Secupational three or three or Li 4 
pxooctations nonc onc two four nonc onc two four 1 je 51 a er ey a LN 5 EY Fm 1 F] 

(excluding teacher) ; a 2: les ko 
§ Teacher 4.2. 2.9 3.4 40 BAC 8.2 8.0 tg 1dr rr BL kez 3 sinager : 9.5 "8.4 3.0 2.9 3.0 - 3.3 3.9 5.8 23 Es - 3 (wncr, Proprictor- 4.5. 5.5 3.4 9 0.6 ~<.6 20.5 | 0.0 EY: [dS {i  Icchnical | 13.6 10.9. 14.8. 6.9 18% 7.5 45.9" 3.0. Ese 3 Clerical 1.500 0.7 4. 2.00 4.0 30.0 525.37 26.6 21.18 2 FE: i sales 1.691.373" 2.05 1.0 23.4. 91.0% "0.0 J.5 EEL ~Truftsman™ EL | Se wal OW Ta iE RITE : Farmer, Manager Lis 1.3 ®in 0:5". 0.0 "6.8 00 = (IF © } Protective Service 1.6 2.5 2.0 7%.0 B5.S.. 0.3 0.5 ..90 i BEE: } Operative 6.4:.8.0 4.0 56 P15 2.4 0.8 3.8 3 fis E 

: Service 1.37 70.8. 6.0.1.0 3.9 54300 8.3 - 4: Ha : laborer Jo 3.43.4" 3.4 9.2.0.0 0.0 n.8 2 Jege: BEE Military 3.7 6.5. 3.4 1.0 0.5.0.0 1.0 0.0 - i [herp fomemaker 0.00 0.0 0.0 0.0: 112.012.490.976 TL RY Eh Not Working 0.6 0.4.1.3 2.0 £.82:7.3 5.9 .3.0 4 x IEF FET Don't Know . = 1.0.00.0¢0.7-. 2.00: 10.5 --0.9. 6.0 0.8 lp vie 
Total . 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 ~ 100.0.100.0 100.0 100.0 = EER 

N (621) (238) (149) (101)  .(876) (331) (203) (132) i 

  Cais NX 

eS: 

  

  Dawkins / BLACKS OCCUPATIONAL EXPECTATIONS 

TABLE 1 

  

  
    

  
  

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0 URBAN EDUCATION / APRIL 1983 

TABLE 2 

Expectations of Entering a Nontraditional Occupation (Professig 
Among Male and Female Students by School Desegregation and R 
  

Expectation of entering a 
professional occupation among: 
    

Southern Males 

Southern Females 

Non-Southern Males 

Non -Southern Fema les 

  

  

  

  

  

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Table 2. Direct Effect of Fredominantly Elack High School Attendance 

on Evrollment at Fredominantly Black Colleges f ow 

Col lege-Bound Black Students by Region and College Levelda? 

rob boon pian SE Son SES SOE SAE FES HS Hen SHU SUSY ITY HE S456 Som IS HI HEI 45 v8 bos Siar S442 Bute BOSS SUeE $304 4001 2034 S00 Sut $504 90nd S8us Ste Sued ide 4-1 4208 350 eee sae Sees 2004 HEes Shes 4 40u avs Sebs #404 4 O4E Seed Teds Bais Sasa SOE Soma SE LI Lous Guna Bris tess 8 

Region and Two-Year Colleges Four-Year Colleges 

Independent 
Variables Metric Beta F Metric Reta [= 

oat Gees +oes SOE Em S508 $600 S105 SETS SEse Sess Sees Sede ——e Suds Goat SESE Sees Bese $6eE SESE SEES Same §00% SIS §106 Sees 900 SOME S00e Sucd SEN Sess S00s Sete aes sate 600s seat ees S4eE S500 S000 Be 04 Sesh SESE SES4 GSEs 4608 S400 Been Seed Fase SEU Shes Suen Seed Sell S3SE SEe4 SASS Smad Sie Sedd see 

SOUTH 

Sex 015 “026 “14 - 037 O37 wy 

AES 027 “O47 292 -.014 - 024 "35 

H.S. Tests - . O05 - 424 2.64 - 009 140 3 « HO 

H.8. Grades 00% «044 7 - O47 ~.313 EH O7X 

Fyoximity ~ O45 134 3.73 74 ~ 35 A 

H. 8. Race «002 ar EE WN Anh 4 L003 201 14, L333 

N = 402 N.-®. S24 

R<2> = L080 RED “mm L347 

NORTH 

Sex .014 024 .09 ~, 067 -, 093 2.44 

SES 013 L032 16 003% L007 L014 

H.S. Tests -. QO, -. 020 06 =, 004 ~. 076 3.28 

H.85. Grades L003 L010 02 ad 1 -, 17 4.42% 

Fvoximity - . 008 -. 024 07 +105 234 5. 08x % 

H.S. Race L002 RG 4 0 TOP ~ 000 be OY «20 

i se 

N = 359 § Nm 504 

REA = 044 cod REY = 069 ses 

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Table 4. Direct Effect of Fredominantly Black High School Attendance 

on Majoring in Technical and Scientific Sub-~Fields Among 

Rlack College Students by College Fryogyram and 

College lLevella? 

$945 0008 Sent Gacm $00e Bees Smee Bums $0Ae SHEE Seen bees 1A4S Sms TEAL £0 0e LENS Bene S10e 100s SORE eee Seed Seas G00 Gn SO0l etm 80 FELL SEAS HEAL SEI4 Seen Sees heme SOs SESE beet Pees $50S Set Shee S004 180 Seed Pans Sear Sms ae aes 44 4 £aEs EmeE 40 be 4has KALE AAs dhas pes taht baeE Gass sass seme ame ees eas shes 00h bese bn 

College Fvrogram Two-Year Col legos Four-Year Col legew 

and Independent 

Variabh Les Metric eat a = Metric Bela = 

000 Gaus 6 600 0040 5000 Sees See GSC $000 ESE GOST $008 Ses Bene + ies Gene SUL Baas 000s 0001 100 Sam GOGE 0000 GOTE SETS 000s SOE § See Se Gade Bias + Gee 5900 Ses Fess §O0E Suse Shed BEeE Sees Sess Sess $004 4000 Soen $408 Send SERS S04 $980 Sade 4 0ed S00e ies Bets Seed Sees S440 bese BEL SEAT Bees bose 4 sas Sema seas sass bone 

ACADEMIC FROGRAM <b> 

sex «064 O75 4.17 “121 4135 10.86% 
SES L000 ~000 00 “045 025 a 33 
H.8. Tests +043 sd 10.45% .014 A) 23 PBN 
H.8. Grades . 000 - 001 . 00 : . 004 +013 . 09 
H.6. Region 043% -. 050 “59 “034 039 78 
H.5. Race -. 542 437 4.035% « 050 “036 1.74 

Col lege Race «0% 039 AY -. 071 074 2.80 

N = 327 N = 813 
RC2> = .085 R<C2> = L086 

VOCATIONAL FROGRAM <c) 

Sex 392 “393 6.89 7 + 398 11.07%xn 
SES 051 O72 “26 =. 04% - 70 ae 
H.S8. Tests 043 «1.84 éb. 35% 023 Ja5s ba. LAN 

H.8. Grades .006 +015 «04 =. O54 -a 151 3.63 

H.6. Reglon «030 -Q34 “49 L081 L091 “5b 
H.8. Race —- 577 ~.4.94 7. 03% 21546 “375 2.02 ] 
College Race 1046 + O57 AY L067 L067 nf 

N = 246 N = 182 
RC2Y = L166 RCRY = .250 

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1 \ XA LT 1 4 tn i$ 4d ' ] “ia ] 1 | : 3 ARE A | 

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Table 2. Regression Equations Predicting Black School-Level College Attendance, College Survival, and Achievement from School Mean Black SES, School 
District Size, and School Percentage White, by Region 

Dependent Variables 

College Attendance College Survival Achievement 

Independent Variables r b . r b B r b B a 

South pol 
Mean Black SES +331 22.2 +3251 323 17.7 .390¢ .462 4.46 .467* > 
School District Size 222 .758 .049 .060 -1.71 -.165* .190 -.020 -.009 Zz 
School Percentage Whité -.106 -.055 -.069 -.084 ~.068 -.127* .007 .003 .029 > 
od AR «127 214 Z 
n (students) (1348) (1348) (1001) OQ 
n (schools) (283) (283) (202) =z 

oN 

: ” 
North > 

Mean Black SES 319 21.3 295 194 9.52 159" .387 4.17 32 5 
School District Size .062 1.41 .095 .034 1.21 .098 126 .625 235 0 
School Percentage White 124 .083 .109 . 164 110 175% .266 .041 3028 
rt 114 .063 235 
n (students) (803) (803) (475) 
n (schools) (201) (201) (137) 

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Table 2. Job Characteristics of Bla ack High School Graduates Who Used Dij of Networks in Their Job Search 
—— 

ferent Types (Private Sector) 

  Used segregated Job outcome 
networks 

E—— 

Did not use Used desegreputed networks 
networks        

   
Percent white of fellow workers 

    

462 
504 

560 (75) 
(277) 

(42) 

Perceny white in (he firm 
523 

596 
604 

) 

(70) 
(252) 

(41) 

Hourly Wage 

£5.69 
$5.74 

$6.45 (78) 
(287) 

(41) 

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  % yor ; @ |_sppENDIX H | 
Li ZPartland / SCHOOL AND EMPLOYMENT DESEGREGATION 277 

     
TABLE 3 

Regression Results from Basic Model Predicting Racial 
Composition (Percentage Black) of Coworkers by Region of 

Residence (Full-Time Employed) 

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NORTH (N=199) 

Sex 
030 .003 21 001 

Age 
= 335 -.049 ~. 29] 332 

H.S.- % Black . 328 +345 359 16.394 xx 
Employment Sector 134 4143 12.700 2.782 

Occupational Level = 1.32 =.¥34 -2.476 2.333 

Multiple BR <2> . = .149 

SOUTH (N=290) 

Sex 
128 110 7.905 2.447 

Age 
~ 21029 =. 027 =.595 144 

H.5< % Black .15] .166 199 5.532* 
Employment Sector e .044 .074 7.129 i.093 

Occupational Level! ki a= 106 -.Y16 -2.299 2.676 

Multiple R <2> = .055 

  
"P< .05:""pe.01: "p< .001 

SEX, age, occupational status, and employment sector, exerts a 
rather strong and statistically significant influence on reducing the 
probability of Black youth seeking/finding employment in deseg- 
regated work environments. Although this relationship holds across 
regions it is considerably stronger in the North than the South, as 
the unstandardized regression coefficients (b=.359 and b =.199, 
respectively) indicate. In the North, the direct effect of high school 
racial composition on coworker racial composition, in fact, exceeds 
the combined net effects of sex, age, employment sector, and occu- 
pational level. In the South, the relative effect of high school racial 
composition is more comparable in magnitude to the effects of 
occupational level (B = -.116) and sex (B = -.110). Nevertheless,