The Black Ceiling - by Kevin Woodson (Hardcover)

About the Book

"America's preeminent law firms, investment banks, and management consultant firms are known for being difficult workplaces. Between long, stressful hours on the job, low odds of promotions, often-unrewarding work assignments, and "up-or-out" personnel practices, most people who begin their careers in these institutions leave within several years of starting. But life in these firms is especially difficult for Black professionals, who leave elite firms more quickly and receive far fewer promotions than their white counterparts. As a result, they remain highly underrepresented in senior positions. Amid increasing calls for diversity in many workplaces, why are these institutions still so bad at maintaining, cultivating, and promoting Black employees? Author Kevin Woodson is a sociologist and JD, one who knows firsthand what life at an elite law firm feels like as a Black man. By examining the experiences of more than 100 Black professionals in elite corporate law firms, investment banks, and management consulting firms, Woodson offers a revelatory new assessment of workplace inequality in high-status jobs. Black professionals say their biggest obstacle in the workplace is not explicit bias. What they identify instead is "racial discomfort"-social alienation and stigma anxiety. Woodson shows how this country's larger history of segregation and discrimination influence the micro-interactions between individual workers, generating firm-level patterns of inequality, with far-reaching implications for efforts to understand and overcome racial inequality in the workplace. In calling attention to the racialized nature and impact of many seemingly innocuous and insignificant aspects of professional life, Woodson illuminates the impact of certain everyday practices and arrangements in reproducing racial hierarchy. The project helps explain the inadequacy of unconscious bias training and other current approaches to take on workplace inequities. Racial inequality in the workforce is not just a matter of racial bias. To more fully understand and address the dynamics that so consistently undermine equality and inclusiveness in elite firms and other employment contexts, we must look beyond bias, to a broader set of challenges"--

Book Synopsis

A revelatory assessment of workplace inequality in high-status jobs that focuses on a new explanation for a pernicious problem: racial discomfort.

America's elite law firms, investment banks, and management consulting firms are known for grueling hours, low odds of promotion, and personnel practices that push out any employees who don't advance. While most people who begin their careers in these institutions leave within several years, work there is especially difficult for Black professionals, who exit more quickly and receive far fewer promotions than their White counterparts, hitting a "Black ceiling."

Sociologist and law professor Kevin Woodson knows firsthand what life at a top law firm feels like as a Black man. Examining the experiences of more than one hundred Black professionals at prestigious firms, Woodson discovers that their biggest obstacle in the workplace isn't explicit bias but racial discomfort, or the unease Black employees feel in workplaces that are steeped in Whiteness. He identifies two types of racial discomfort: social alienation, the isolation stemming from the cultural exclusion Black professionals experience in White spaces, and stigma anxiety, the trepidation they feel over the risk of discriminatory treatment. While racial discomfort is caused by America's segregated social structures, it can exist even in the absence of racial discrimination, which highlights the inadequacy of the unconscious bias training now prevalent in corporate workplaces. Firms must do more than prevent discrimination, Woodson explains, outlining the steps that firms and Black professionals can take to ease racial discomfort.

Offering a new perspective on a pressing social issue, The Black Ceiling is a vital resource for leaders at preeminent firms, Black professionals and students, managers within mostly White organizations, and anyone committed to cultivating diverse workplaces.

Review Quotes

"Yielding rich insights from both interviewees and his own valuable firsthand experience as a Black man working in a leading law firm, Woodson has much to offer academic and real-world audiences alike. . . . The Black Ceiling is both academically rigorous and practically relevant. . . . Woodson outlines much-needed concrete steps that both firms and Black professionals can take to address racial discomfort--steps that are particularly needed when firms steeped in whiteness have a tendency to ignore or whitewash racial politics."-- "American Journal of Sociology"

"Woodson's The Black Ceiling is a masterful and nuanced exploration of the persistent challenges that Black professionals face in elite workplaces. Woodson seamlessly weaves three levels of analysis to provide a new explanation for Black professionals' organizational mobility (or lack thereof), which screams of realism without feeling overly deterministic. By bridging individual experiences of stigma anxiety and social alienation with organizational and societal dynamics, Woodson offers a multi-dimensional framework that deepens our understanding of workplace inequality. It is essential reading for students and scholars of workplace inequality, HR professionals, and organizational leaders seeking to understand and address the structural and interpersonal barriers that Black professionals face in elite firms."-- "Administrative Science Quarterly"

"A useful contribution to the literature on race and work. One of the most valuable aspects of Woodson's book is his attention to the ways Black professional workers in these spaces anticipate and react to the (often justified) expectation that they will be marginalized or face racial stereotyping in these work environments."-- "Social Forces"

"In this well-researched book, Woodson identifies a significant and widespread consequence of the country's racial divide. Mandatory reading for both junior professionals and senior management alike."-- "Kirkus Reviews"

"Woodson delivers an amazingly nuanced and balanced portrait of life as a Black professional working in the high-powered service industries. I frequently saw myself in his descriptions and marveled at his ability to articulate the experiences of Black professionals across the spectrum. While Woodson's assertions will be familiar to almost every Black professional, it is his gift for explaining the complex factors that lead to his conclusions that makes this book stand out as a must-read. Woodson also offers concrete, practical solutions to the issues he raises that are sometimes counterintuitive but always insightful." --Ronald Machen, chair of WilmerHale's Litigation and Controversy Department and former US Attorney for the District of Columbia

"The Black Ceiling is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding barriers to success for Black professionals working at predominantly White firms in law, consulting, and finance. Woodson shows how racial discomfort sometimes shadows Black professionals' experiences, through social alienation and stigma anxiety. In doing so, Woodson goes beyond explanations that rely solely on instances of racial discrimination to explain how social, cultural, and psychological processes also shape work experiences. Woodson also identifies the route to more positive experiences at work for Black professionals. The book is a compelling read and is sure to become an instant classic!"--Natasha Warikoo, author of Race at the Top: Asian Americans and Whites in Pursuit of the American Dream in Suburban Schools

"The Black Ceiling is terrific, both in its observations and in its selection of themes. The solutions Woodson puts forward are eminently sensible."--Devon W. Carbado, author of Unreasonable: Black Lives, Police Power, and the Fourth Amendment

"The Black Ceiling provides a desperately needed and beautifully written account of the lives of Black professionals in top law firms, investment banks, and consulting firms. Woodson powerfully shows how, despite these firms' publicly stated commitments to increasing racial diversity, inside their doors familiarity with White, upper-middle-class culture serves as vital currency for accessing plum assignments, necessary on-the-job training, favorable performance evaluations, close relationships with partners, and ultimately promotions. The book should be mandatory reading for employees in elite professional service firms and the students they recruit."--Lauren A. Rivera, author of Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs

About the Author

Kevin Woodson is a sociologist and former attorney. Now a professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law, he previously worked as an associate at the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP.