Black Corporate Executives (Labor And Social Change) [Paperback]

Sharon Collins (Author)

Book Description

Series: Labor And Social Change | Publication Date: December 14, 1996

Against the backdrop of increasing ambivalence in the federal government commitment to race-based employment policies, this book reveals how African-Americans first broke into professional and managerial jobs in corporations during the sixties and offers in-depth profiles of their subsequent career experiences. Two sets of interviews with the most successful Black executives in Chicago's major corporations are used to demonstrate how the creation of the Black business elite is connected to federal government pressures and black social unrest that characterized the civil Rights movement in the sixties. "Black Corporate Executives" presents, first hand, the dilemmas and contradictions that face this first wave of Black managers and reveals a subtle new employment discrimination.Corporations hired these executives in response to race-conscious political pressures and shifted them into "racialized" positions directing affirmative action programs or serving "special" markets of minority clients, customers, or urban affairs. Many executives became, as one man said, "the head Black in charge of Black people." These positions gave upper-middle-class lifestyles to those who held them but also siphoned these executives out of mainstream paths to corporate power typically leading through planning and production areas. As the political climate has become more conservative and the economy undergoes restructuring, these Black executives believe that the importance of recruiting Blacks has waned and that the jobs Blacks hold are vulnerable.Collins-Lowry's analysis challenges arguments that justify dismantling affirmative action. She argues that it is a myth to believe that Black occupational attainments are evidence that race no longer matters in the middle-class employment arena. On the contrary, Blacks' progress and well-being are tied to politics and employment practices that are sensitive to race. Author note: Sharon M. Collins teaches Sociology at the University of Illinois, in Chicago.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Extensive interviews with 76 of Chicago's black business elite form the basis of this study by Collins-Lowry, a sociologist at University of Illinois, Chicago. Unfortunately, hers is a tinder-dry academic style, imparting very few of these executives' personal experiences or insights. Thesis prevails, without any illustrative anecdote or broad speculative inquiry not directly serving it. Instead, statistics are cited twice, in absolute as well as percentage terms; conclusions are repeated often; and recurrent, defensive justification interferes with the power of her argument. It's too bad, because there are some salient points beneath the tedium. Collins-Lowry gives persuasive examples of how employment gains made by blacks through the '80s were rather more marginalized than we like to think?as one executive characterized it, he was "the head black in charge of black[s]," while others saw gains begin to slip as racial pressures subsided. The government's role was crucial, not only in terms of the numbers of black managers it hired, but also through its contracting power, without which too many white firms might have stayed that way. Collins-Lowry warns that abandoning affirmative action may lead to the kind of civil unrest that was the catalyst for the first equal opportunity legislation. Not everyone will agree with her: she sees "government dependency as an unavoidable partner in blacks' progress" and worries that the rise of a black middle class within a predominantly white business world may have deprived the black community of leaders, turning them instead into company men. But the much thornier issue for most readers will be getting through the book in the first place. (Dec.) FYI: Black Entrepreneurs in America: Stories of Struggle and Success is reviewed on page 62 of this issue.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Collins-Lowry (sociology, Univ. of Illinois) reveals how African Americans first broke into professional and managerial jobs in corporations during the Sixties and offers profiles of their subsequent career experiences.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Temple University Press; 1 edition (December 14, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566394740
• ISBN-13: 978-1566394741
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #690,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pioneering Research and Analysis, December 20, 2001

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Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Black Corporate Executives (Labor And Social Change) (Paperback)

Since this book was first published in 1996, there has been at least some progress in terms of what Vernon Jordan calls "signs of new opportunities" as indicated by the appointment as CEOs of Kenneth Chenault (by American Express) and Richard Parsons (by AOL Time Warner). However, obviously, much more remains to be achieved in a society which still relies so heavily on gender-specific adjectives (e.g. female jockey) and hyphenated descriptives (e.g. Lilliputian-Americans). Let us all hope that Chenault and Parsons were selected wholly because they were best-qualified to provide the organizational leadership needed. Period.

The subtitle of Collins' book ("The Making and Breaking of a Black Middle Class") implies -- to me, at least -- initiatives which were consciously and deliberately expedient. That is to say, in response to various pressures (especially from the federal government) on many corporations in the late-1960s to create access to career opportunities previously denied to black executives. These same corporations then "racialized" the positions many black executives occupied by limiting their responsibilities to supervising Affirmative Action programs, cultivating "special markets", and solidifying relationships with minority customers. In almost every instance, this eliminated them from the "fast track" to positions at higher levels within their respective organizations. Their income permitted what Dick Gregory once referred to as an "Oreo lifestyle" but job security was tenuous. I was curious to know: Was the emergence of a Black Middle Class, throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, more a perception than a reality?

In an e-mail from her, she responds to that question. "I really don't think the emergence of the middle class was illusionary at all. I think the socioeconomic gains were/are real but they are grounded in different sets of conditions than those that prop up whites. I think that its emergence and growth was, and still is, dependent on the continued support of public policies and social pressure. When I look at the Ken Chenaults and Richard Parsons of the world I see them as anomalies rather than as symbols of a a trend. In other words, I don't think these companies are going to integrate their power structures in a sustained way unless there's some type of external nonmarket pressure to do so. Of course, I could be wrong and, if so, I'll have to rethink my understanding of race relations in the business world."

I was also curious to know to what the extent (if any) the demographics of black executives (male and female) have changed since 1996 when her book was first published. In the same e-mail, Collins observes: "The demographic trends associated with the number of black executives is almost impossible to measure for several reasons. One, the best source (EEO1 data that surveys private employers) groups managers so that rank is obscured. Managers counted here could be the manager of a 7-11 food store or a CFO of a Fortune 500 company. Census data does have an "administrator" category, but that probably relates more to public than to private sector employment. This problem has been my nemesis and probably will continue to be so because I am forced patch together information from various sources and than draw inferences." Although the scope and depth of Collins' survey sample may seem insufficient to support her generalizations (i.e. two sets of interviews with 76 of the most successful black executives in Chicago's major corporations), she consulted extensive supplementary research resources which apparently confirmed what she learned from those interviewed.

The Collins Web site features a statement which asserts that her analysis in this book "challenges arguments that justify dismantling affirmative action. She argues that it is a myth to believe that black occupational attainments are evidence that race no longer matters in the middle-class employment arena. On the contrary, blacks' progress and well-being are tied to politics and employment practices that are sensitive to race." That brief excerpt refers to her analysis of circumstances almost two decades prior to 1996. It remains for each reader to read and evaluate Collins' book, then draw her or his own conclusions as to its relevance to circumstances today. I rate the book so highly because she addresses so many important issues which remain timely in 2001; also, because she raises questions which must continue to be asked, and then answered honestly, until such time that there is no longer a need to do so.