http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/01/14/name.bias.ap/index.html Unfortunately, I'm not sure there's a good "solution" except to wait it out and hope each generation improves upon the previous generation. <I> <B>Study: It helps to have a 'white' name </B> CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- It helps to have a white-sounding first name when looking for work, a new study has found. Resumes with white-sounding first names elicited 50 percent more responses than ones with black-sounding names, according to a study by professors at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The professors sent about 5,000 resumes in response to want ads in The Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune. They found that the "white" applicants they created received one response -- a call, letter or e-mail -- for every 10 resumes mailed, while "black" applicants with equal credentials received one response for every 15 resumes sent. The study authors, including University of Chicago associate professor of economics Marianne Bertrand, said the results can solely be attributed to name manipulation. "Our results so far suggest that there is a substantial amount of discrimination in the job recruiting process," they wrote. The professors analyzed birth certificates in coming up with what names to use. The white names included Neil, Brett, Greg, Emily, Anne and Jill. Some of the black names used were Tamika, Ebony, Aisha, Rasheed, Kareem and Tyrone. Companies that purported to be equal opportunity employers were no more likely to respond to black resumes than other businesses, the study found. Carolyn Nordstrom, president of Chicago United, a group that seeks to increase corporate diversity, said the study shows the need to educate those that make hiring decisions. "We like to believe that this has changed, but this is evidence that it hasn't," she said. </I>
Sigh. Prejudice is alive and well. Why can't everybody just train themselves not to think about the name? I wonder how this affects other ethnic groups, many of which also have last names that are different from white ones. Kind of hard to hide that. Hopefully that study will be done also.
Though it's not the same thing, I've wondered in the past if having a last name that has been associated with prominent blacks has made a difference when I've submitted resumes to companies. I know that I've almost never gotten interviews from resumes I've sent in, even when I've been very qualified for the advertised job. But it's probably just a coincidence. I am reminded, by the way, of something from The Onion the other day. They had a table of popular names by race (jokingly, of course. It was The Onion). In the "Black" column, the names were all like "Chaniqua", etc. In the "White" column, the names were all like "Dylan", etc. And in the "Asian" column, the names were all what we might think of as traditional American names like "Bradley" or "Susan". Don't know what that has to do with anything, but that's what I thought of upon seeing this article.
Just a question, nothing more (Major, this should get your thread going....) If given the following choices of names and in the absence of any other information, who would you most likely go out on a date with? a. Shendrisha b. Esperanza c. Li d. Santha e. Amy Interpret as you see fit. Think critically.
Li or Esperanza or the first one. I don't date cracker ass crackers. Think critically? First tell me what you mean by this and then I might fathom a response.
Um...you might need to fill me in on this a little more, because your point can't be as simple or obvious as that -- at least not if it is to be taken seriously. For the record, the joke about crackers is from some Chris Rock standup -- the whole first line of my post was a joke. If your point is that there's no difference between preference of race in terms of both hiring process and dating, well then that's pretty horrible. In terms of dating, there are certain physical characteristics that each person is attracted to, which may or may not fall into some racial categories. In the hiring process, skills, education, etc are the only things that should be evaluated.
It may have been a new study, but the results certainly are nothing new. Now imagine if a person with a "non-white" name also has an accent - even worse, regardless of intelligence, etc. It makes it easy to screen phonecalls, though...if someone stumbles over my wife's name I hang up quite fast. It is annoying how most don't even try to say anything close. T_J, I don't usually make judgements on such superficial things as names...so I would choose any of them and decide later...although I admit I would have some bias towards the Amy because that name is so dull and bland...although I do have a good friend named Amy... Seriously, though...are you trying to be silly?
Interesting. I think this probably has more to do with cultural ideals than with race, but I find it interesting.
Are you refering to the socio-economic references attached to names? I wonder what would happen if they did a study where they used all white names, but grouped them like this: Group 1: -Thomas White -Wilson Stevens -Roger Morissey Group 2: -Jed Smith -Sam Jones -Tim Case What is the origin of the African-American names that they used in the study?
I wouldn't pick someone to date solely on their name just like, if I was an employer, I wouldn't pick who I'd want to interview solely on their name.
I hate to question the study since my old school participated, but I wonder what they have done to control against class biases. Tamika, Ebony, Aisha, Rasheed, Kareem and Tyrone all sound black, but I think there is an economic stereotype that goes hand-in-hand that probably cannot be parsed out. If one were to assume from the name that a person was from poor parents, you might further deduce that his education as a child was not as good which would make him a worse candidate. I am not, by any means, saying this is legitimate. I'm just saying that race isn't the only factor here. Btw, I'm guessing TJ really would have a preference in dating based solely on the name. And, I'm guessing he doesn't prefer Esperanza. Personally, if I had to pick one and I had nothing at all to go on but the name (why would I participate in Russian Roulette?), I'd go with Shendrisha; it sounds the sexiest.
What they should have done was make sure the resumes with the black names on it were a little more dressed up than the resumes with the white names on it. I'd be interested to know if that would have made a difference.
There was a study several years ago that showed that women with names like Jennifer (and others, but I was dating a Jennifer at the time, so I remember that one being on the list) end up being less financially successful than women with other names. That could support the idea that there are just some names that carry with them preconceived notions, notions that can go beyond race. Still doesn't make it right, though.
