Document Type

Article

Publication Title

University of Pennsylvania Journal of Labor and Employment Law

Abstract

But the workplace is perhaps the most important sphere in which significant integration has taken place. A combination of legal pressures, primarily driven by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and voluntary efforts have made the workplace an arena of comparative integration. Moreover, it is an arena in which individuals interact on a daily basis, often over years, within a common enterprise which necessitates, to varying degrees, trust and cooperation. The workplace is thus one of the very few settings in which adults spend a significant amount of time interacting intensively and constructively with others from different families, different neighborhoods, different religions, and, importantly, different racial and ethnic groups. It is important not to overstate the success of workplace integration. African-American and Latino workers, in particular, remain disproportionately concentrated in low-paid and unskilled jobs. One of the implications I draw from the role of the workplace in a racially diverse democratic society is the importance of continued efforts to integrate workplaces generally and, in particular, the higher levels of the workplace hierarchy. But it is in part the degree of progress so far that suggests that these continued efforts are likely to be worthwhile. I will argue here that one of the best things this society could do to promote racial cooperation and integration is to shore up and reinforce the ability of some critical sectors of society-in particular, the workplace-to serve as arenas of racially integrated discourse and constructive interaction. In Part I of this essay, I hope to draw a convincing portrait of the workplace as a uniquely important forum for personal interaction across racial and ethnic lines. This is a portrait I have sketched before; here, in Part II, I add some empirical support to that picture. I will discuss some of the ways in which labor and employment law does and could better support the integrative function of the workplace. It is important to note that the present essay offers only a preliminary sketch of some rather farreaching implications. The overall conclusion that is beginning to emerge, but that clearly requires further development, is that many of the basic constitutive elements of a democratic society-freedom of expression, equal protection, due process, and even democratic governance itself - have important functions within the workplace that have been underappreciated. These democratic elements help to support and enhance the role of the workplace as a crucial arena of constructive interracial engagement.

First Page

49

Volume

1

Publication Date

1998

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