"Walk the Talk?"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the research article "Walk the Talk? What Employers Say Versus What They Do," written by Devah Pager and Lincoln Quillian. The content of the article is discussed as is the article's aim to develop a method of testing self reported intentions of employers to hire applicants based upon race and or criminal history.

From the Paper:

"Data collection from both samples methods were then compiled individually and compared to one another to see if there was a significant statistical disparity between what employers reported they would do and what they actually did, when faced with a real applicant (tester) who was either black or white and had a criminal record or did not. Not surprisingly the comparison between the two tests supported the theory that more often than not employers acted in a way that was inconsistent with their reported intentions/hiring policies. In fact the statistical difference was striking with 61.9% of employers stating they would very likely hire a white man with a criminal record and 61.7% saying they would hire a black man with ah criminal record while in reality, according to the comparative study, the real life circumstance only 17% actually responded positively to a white man with a criminal record and only 5% responded positively to a black man with a criminal record. (364) The work then goes on to analyze the results using different statistical methods, some resulting in lesser disparity regarding race while still proving the disparity in report versus action. The results are in fact too conclusive to be completely dismissed based on any outside influences, though these should be discussed as point of critique and will be in the next section."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Pager, Devah and Lincoln Quillian.. "Walking the Talk? What Employers Say Versus What They Do." American Sociological Review 70: 2005, 355-380.
• Gray, Paul S., John B. Williamson, David A. Karp, and John R. Dalphin The Research Imagination: An Introduction to Qualitative and Quantitative Methods: Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

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