ABSTRACT
The social stigma of working in fast food restaurants is an added pressure on American-born youth. This peer pressure affects the work ethic and creates a problem for managers in assigning American-born workers certain tasks. Tina works with people from all over the world. Her employers very proudly refer to their McDonald's workforce as a "United Nations team" representing China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Russia, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Togo, Africa, and various others. Race as a category was often broken down and reconfigured by employers who confronted conflicts, differences, or solidarity between and within racial groups. The distinctions made between African Americans and foreigners of African ancestry is exacerbated by a tendency to make a further distinction between the American-born and the foreign-born. Whether resistance to organizational goals is accommodated or disparaged largely depends on the ethnic makeup, experiences, and personal traits of managers.
