Dissertation chapter 2

Running head: DISSERTATION CONTINUATION 1

DISSERTATION CONTINUATION 6

Tracey Joseph

Chapter One and Chapter 2

Assignment 1: Chapter One

1. Historical Background

While all women in the United States face similar workplace challenges, other women groups have to face the issue of diversity and inequalities. This is particularly true of black Caribbean women, who are increasingly joining the American workforce (Hall, Everett & Hamilton-Mason, 2012). Like other black women, Caribbean women confront numerous workplace challenges. They range from sexist and racism, to low possibility of getting promotion or career progression. Other challenges include having to defend one’s race and shifting or code switching to overpower barriers to employment. Consequently, they have to cope with unending racial inequalities in the workplace as they try to make ends meet for their families.

Black Caribbean women have always formed an important part of the American workforce. Although not much has been authored about the challenges that they encounter within the mainstream American economy, their contribution to the socioeconomic development of the United States can be traced back to periods before the United States gained independence. Berleant-Schiller (1999) provides some of the earliest insights into the genesis of workplace challenges that black Caribbean women face. According to Berleant-Schiller (1999), Caribbean women played a role in the 16th century commodity plantation system. During this period, Black Caribbean women used to work as slaves in the tobacco and sugar plantations of Americans. The slave labor control prefigures industrial control of a rising proletariat in Europe. Thus, Berleant-Schiller (1999) reinforces the idea that the problems that modern problems that black Caribbean women face in the workplace have their historical roots in slavery.

Considering the above, Caribbean black women have a long-standing immigration history that can traced back to five centuries ago. However, they still lag compared to their African American counterparts in workplace-related inequalities (Wells-Wilbon & Vakalahi, 2015). Caribbean women have a high level of immigration into the country. Approximately 73 percent of Caribbean population is participants in the American labor force. However, they still face the problem of low wages and long working hours. Furthermore, most Caribbean black women in the workforce perform are founding informal job sectors, with an insignificant fraction participating doing white-collar jobs (Wells-Wilbon & Vakalahi, 2015). Unlike other women groups from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, black Caribbean women are less likely to be employed in departments that require technical skills and qualifications, such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

2. Theory Relevant to the Research Questions

a. Theoretical Model that Informs The Research

The theoretical foundations of the study will be drawn from the social categorization theory, which posits that people regularly group themselves and others into in-groups and out-groups based on the surface-level demographics such as gender, sex, and race (Colella & King, 2018). In-groups refer to those groups that are similar to themselves, while out-groups are groups that are different from themselves. According to the theory, the categorization process may take many forms. For instance, functional categorization takes place when the groups support others to get through their day as they brand a certain stimulus into relevant or irrelevant, safe or harmful, familiar, or foreign (Colella & King, 2018). According to the social categorization theory, the process of categorizing people into groups can result in stereotyping of other people who are different from the self since self-esteem is partly drawn from a person’s identity groups. Moreover, people generally desire to have positive self-impressions. As such, positive characteristics are often ascribed to the in-group while negative characteristics are extended to the out-groups.

The second theory that will be utilized for the study is the minority stress theory. This theory was initially conceptualized to describe the experiences of gay people. However, its scope has since been broadened to other disadvantaged and underserved populations (Colella & King, 2018). According to the minority stress theory, stress and other challenges are derived from being a minority status. This stress is drawn from multiple areas, such as internalized homophobia, gender-based discrimination, and racism. Other forms of discrimination include stigma, which is often extended to minority groups such as women. Stigma increases stress when a woman develops an expectation that there will be discrimination extended to them. The final cause of stress is the actual experience of discrimination or violence (Colella &* King, 2018). Considering the above, the minority stress theory supposes that minority groups such as LGBTQs have more mental disorders than their heterosexual majority due to discrimination.

b. Comparing the Competing Theories

Although the two theories can be utilized for the study, the social categorization theory is more relevant than the minority stress theory. This is because the social categorization theory can be applied across different groups of people, including both the minority and majority, who are all part of the scope of this study. On the other hand, the minority stress theory only focuses on discrimination of gays and lesbian, although it has been expanded to incorporate other minority groups. It also only talks about stress, and no other types of problems that Caribbean black women may encounter in the American workplace. The scope of this study includes other problems such as low wages, lack of technical skills, and career progression. Consequently, utilizing the minority stress theory would limit the scope of this study to only stress. On the other hand, the social categorization theory is more relevant in the sense that it explores different types of challenges that members of a given social group (in-group) face in relation to their out-group counterparts.

Critics of the minority stress theory argue that the theory is a general one that notes. In that respect, there have been much positive changes in the social environment of sexual minorities. For instance, the gay, lesbian, and bisexuals are no longer highly exposed to minority-related stress (Patterson & D'Augelli, 2013). Due to such social changes over the last three decades in the Western societies, with social attitudes getting more acknowledging of same-sex relationships, these minority groups no longer encounter the minority stressors as described by the theory (Patterson & D'Augelli, 2013). According to these critics, the minority stress theory is no longer viable in explaining the emergence of other forms of discrimination extended to minority groups.

c. How the Theoretical Foundation of the Dissertation Applies to the Problem

Caribbean black women are members of minority and disadvantaged groups in the American workforce. As such, the social categorization theory can be relevant in grouping them according to their skin color, country of origin, and the common problems that are unique to them in comparison to other women population in the country. In this study context, the starting point of the social categorization theory is Caribbean women asking who they are. This theory is founded on the presumption that employees who group themselves at the individual level have the propensity to behave in ways that maintain, if not increase, their personal identities. Those who group themselves mainly at social levels are more likely to champion for their identity as a group member. When personal identity becomes salient for an employee, the needs for self-actualization, growth, and enrichment affect the person’s behavior. This theory stresses on the idea that high levels of motivation in the workplace may not be a function of the qualities distinct to an individual. Instead, they revolve around a person’s sense of identity and what an employee feels compelled to do to maintain that identity.

Assignment 2: Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Current Empirical Literature Relevant to Research Questions/ Hypotheses

1. Literature Relating to Individual Variables

The categorization of people as being an outside member of a specific group can generate challenges such as discrimination and stereotyping. A study conducted by McFarlane (2017) indicated that black Caribbean women often feel that they do not form part of the mainstream American women groups. Consequently, other women groups such as whites, Latinos, and black Americans easily spot them, resulting in discrimination both in the workplace and at college. In an effort to determine the degree to which the social categories of gender, class, race, and nationality interplay in Caribbean immigrant women’s experiences of being in American colleges and workplaces, McFarlane (2017) utilized focus groups across 27 English-speaking Caribbean-born women. The study suggested that when Caribbean black women move to the United States, they come from gendered cultural traditions that influence their social role. According to McFarlane (2017), the complex intersecting identities in women’s roles being challenged, coupled with social identification within the workplace and college contexts, breed some forms of discrimination. In view of the widespread cross-cultural contact and globalization, McFarlane offers an in-depth understanding of factors that influence the psychological adjustment of Caribbean black women in the United States as a way of improving their adaptation across the constantly-changing social situations.

Dominguez et al. (2014) argue that the experiences of women who belong to one ethnic and racial origin often make them isolate themselves from other groups based on the challenges that they faced. Indeed, the differential exposures to minority status stressors can serve as a tool to explain the differences in United States-born and foreign-born Black women. According to Dominguez et al. (2014), Caribbean black women in the United States often complain of the same level of racism than their counterparts from Africa. In particular, the researchers’ state that when racism is evaluated in terms of immigrant sub-groups, American-born black women are similar in their level of self-reports associated to racism in the workplace and in social gatherings to their Caribbean counterparts. Some of the most common situational domains that were mentioned as spots for racism include workplace, public places, and colleges.

2. Literature Relating to Specific Combination of Variables

There are various studies that identify variables such as race, ethnicity, and cultural identities as factors that contribute to workplace challenges of Caribbean black women in the United States. For instance, Bridgewater and Buzzanel (2010) state that cultural, racial, and moral factors serve as barriers to effective communication for Caribbean women immigrants who operate within the American workplace. Using the constant comparative techniques, the researchers assessed interviews of 25 Caribbean immigrants. The outcomes of the study identified two discursive positioning. They included intergroup cultural-moral narratives of the American Dream, as well as stories that regenerate and resist certain specific intercultural workplace communication. According to Bridgewater and Buzzanel (2010), individual sense making stories served to break down the monolithic cultural and moral narratives of the American Dream to indicate participants’ perceptions regarding communicative strategies for, and discursive self-positioning for dealing with their distinct workplace experiences and problems.

Further, King Miller (2017) explores issues related to race, culture, ethnicity, and identity in shaping Caribbean women’s participation in technical carriers. In particular, King Miller (2017) investigates how these factors influence underrepresentation of Caribbean black women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers. According to King Miller (2017) have successfully navigated across race and gender barriers associated with education and employment in STEM. The findings suggest that socio-cultural values and strategies from their respective Caribbean community offers the support required to establish a positive self-identity. Moreover, middle-class values that include educational attainment and hard work further support their persistence via STEM educational and their participation in STEM careers.

References

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Journal of Latin American Studies, 34 (1), 201-210.

Bridgewater, M. J., & Buzzanell, P. M. (2010). Caribbean immigrants’ discourses: Cultural,

moral, and personal stories about workplace communication in the United States. The

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Colella, A., & King, E. B. (Eds.). (2018). The Oxford handbook of workplace discrimination.

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Dominguez, T.P., Strong, F.E., Krieger, N., Gillman, W.M., & Rich-Edwards, W.M. (2014).

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