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A new study by researchers at Princeton University claims that gay African American men have similar advantages when it comes to finding work to white heterosexual men
11 June 2014
Controversial new research published by a sociologist at Princeton University seems to show that African American gay men have an advantage over heterosexual African American men when it comes to being considered for jobs.
Princeton sociologist David Pedulla sent four resumes from fictional college graduates to hundreds of potential employers with names that were stereotypical of black applicants and white applicants.
Some of the resumes mentioned participation in a Gay Student Advisory Council.
Pedulla found the resume that was designed to imply the job applicant was both black and gay made him more likely to be considered for the same starting salary by employers as a heterosexual white male.
In comparison, resumes that were designed to suggest the applicant was white and gay or black and heterosexual were considered for lower starting salaries.
Pedulla suggested that the results showed that negative stereotypes about black men and gay men could cancel each other out.
‘There is no salary penalty for gay black men, who receive higher salary recommendations than straight black men and salary recommendations on par with straight white men,’ Pedulla said of his findings.
‘There is some evidence that gay black men are perceived as less threatening than straight black men and that this difference accounts for a piece of the salary recommendation difference between these two groups.’
Pedulla said that he was interested in conducting further research in this area.
‘I would be interested in conducting an experimental audit study of real job openings in the labor market where the race and sexual orientation of the job applicants were experimentally manipulated,’ Pedulla said.
Associate professor of sociology at Stanford, Robb Willer, called Pedulla’s research ‘cutting edge theoretically.’
‘Several lines of work in the social sciences would suggest that membership in disadvantaged social categories combine in simple, straightforward ways,’ Willer said.
‘But Pedulla's work suggests the process is more complex and that the contents of the stereotypes of different disadvantaged groups can counteract one another, leading to less total disadvantage than would have previously been expected.’
Pedulla’s research was published in March in the journal Social Psychology Quarterly under the title, ‘The Positive Consequences of Negative Stereotypes: Race, Sexual Orientation and the Job Application Process.’
Princeton sociologist David Pedulla sent four resumes from fictional college graduates to hundreds of potential employers with names that were stereotypical of black applicants and white applicants.
Some of the resumes mentioned participation in a Gay Student Advisory Council.
Pedulla found the resume that was designed to imply the job applicant was both black and gay made him more likely to be considered for the same starting salary by employers as a heterosexual white male.
In comparison, resumes that were designed to suggest the applicant was white and gay or black and heterosexual were considered for lower starting salaries.
Pedulla suggested that the results showed that negative stereotypes about black men and gay men could cancel each other out.
‘There is no salary penalty for gay black men, who receive higher salary recommendations than straight black men and salary recommendations on par with straight white men,’ Pedulla said of his findings.
‘There is some evidence that gay black men are perceived as less threatening than straight black men and that this difference accounts for a piece of the salary recommendation difference between these two groups.’
Pedulla said that he was interested in conducting further research in this area.
‘I would be interested in conducting an experimental audit study of real job openings in the labor market where the race and sexual orientation of the job applicants were experimentally manipulated,’ Pedulla said.
Associate professor of sociology at Stanford, Robb Willer, called Pedulla’s research ‘cutting edge theoretically.’
‘Several lines of work in the social sciences would suggest that membership in disadvantaged social categories combine in simple, straightforward ways,’ Willer said.
‘But Pedulla's work suggests the process is more complex and that the contents of the stereotypes of different disadvantaged groups can counteract one another, leading to less total disadvantage than would have previously been expected.’
Pedulla’s research was published in March in the journal Social Psychology Quarterly under the title, ‘The Positive Consequences of Negative Stereotypes: Race, Sexual Orientation and the Job Application Process.’
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Well, this is certainly a surprising finding...
I guess it's time to be a little more revealing in the old resume...
"Fear Eats the Soul'
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