ABSTRACT
Social scientists and sociologists in particular have devoted considerable attention to the social causes of black and white racial inequality. This chapter investigates the impact of race on the relative status achievement of blacks. It draws on some tentative conclusions regarding the impact of race on status achievement by comparing the relative achievement of blacks and whites in labor market areas of the United States. The chapter examines the relationships between the percent black in labor market areas and measures of net difference in racial earnings, occupation, and educational achievement. The studies on the relationship between racial concentration and racial inequality have examined the common assumption that the socioeconomic opportunities of minorities are inversely related to their relative size in the population. The competition-discrimination model assumes that white workers respond in discriminatory fashion to competition from black workers. The study finds that there is a nonlinear effect of black concentration on racial inequality.
