This may be the wrong forum for this, but I’m not sure where else it would go.
Before we get started, please keep in mind that I’m not asking as some sort of plot to get into a discussion on racism or anything of that nature.
I work as a temporary contractor, and we’ve had a pretty heavy turnover the last few months. About 1/3 of our temps have been black (the term black will be used to represent African-American, both for my preference and the preference of my lazy fingers).
Those black people will almost always, once they have free time, make a beeline for the other black people working in the call center we share the room with. They don’t know each other outside of work, and are in two un-related jobs.
But they tend to be social with each the call center employee first before making an attempt to get to know their co-workers.
There have been a few that have outright ignored the rest of us, only speaking with the other black temps or call center people.
What is the cause for this?
I’ve noticed it in other jobs I’ve had as well… a new employee, if black, will immediately seek out the other black employees before anyone else.
Maybe it’s my Montana upbringing, but I really can’t think of a reasoning for this behavior. How 'bout you?
birds of a feather, flock together.
They feel more at ease with their own “kind”, I presume.
If you were the only guy surroundedby women, would you not seek out one other guy, should he appear on the scene?
African American people still feel discriminated against, so they will refrain from mingling with “whites”. it’s safer once you’re surrounded by “family”.
I’ve actually experienced the example elfje provided, being one of only two guys in a place where the rest of the employees were women and been the immediate social target of any new-hire or temp who also happened to be a guy. And I have worked in male-dominated shops where any new woman hired would immediately seek out the association of the few women employed.
I suspect that if there were more places where the overwhelming majority of employees were black, we’d see new white employees seeking the company of the people who “looked like” themselves, as well. (I’ve never worked in a majority-black place of employment, but I have worked in places where the staff was about 50/50 and have seen the new-hires of each race seek out “their own,” initially. Of course, after the introductory period (and after noticing that the old hands mingled irrespective of race), that sort of gravitational pull eased up quite a bit, beyond any personal friendships that might have developed based on the first meetings.)
I’d go as far as to say if the workplace consisted solely of white men, for example, you’d see individuals seeking the company of men closest to their own age.
I tend, at first, to gravitate towards the people in the office on a like kind. The moms, the younger women. I think it’s just normal that like seeks like for immediate comfortableness.
It’s interesting – we’re all taught not to judge a person by the color of his or her skin. . . Yet that’s exactly what these temps are doing – making assumptions about people based on their skin color.
I relate it to myself. If I see others around me who are wearing bicycling-related clothing, I’ll probably feel pretty comfortable striking up a conversation with them. And if I were naturally a little shy, not striking up a conversation with the other people wouldn’t be that I was shunning them.
I drop my son off at daycare every morning. For some reason, his daycare has a very diverse mix of kids (which is kind of unusual here in the American Rhein region). I’ve noticed that they mix together very well, although there is a tendency for the girls to play with each other and the boys to play with each other. So maybe there is hope. Or it could be a learned behaviour that this group of kids has not picked up on yet.
It’s one of those primate things we do. I did the same thing when I went to a college where I was definitely and obviously from a completely different social stratum than Biff and Buffy.
It was very different when we were overseas. It didn’t matter if you were Black, white, Brown or zebra stiped. If you were american you hung together.
We all noticed this and talked about it once in a while openly
I used to work in a wholesale warehouse. Talk about diverse! Everyone tended to stick with their ethnic group. Jamaicans, Dominicans, Bosnians, Poles, various sorts of hyphenated americans mixed little with one and other.
People are essentially tribal in nature…'nuff said.
Well, thank you for the responses. I agree, it’s interesting that even in this “enlightened” age of ‘everyone is the same’ type thinking, we still tend to group together via color or ethnicity.
Personally, I’m white, my regular team-mate is of Chinese decent. We managed to bond based on our hatred of our supervisor, and a mutual geekiness.
I talk with all the people on the other shifts as well, and the call-center people. I just thought it was a tad unusual, but I suppose it’s much mnore common than I thought.
Have you been to high school? For the most part people hang out with other people with the same things in common. To answer your specific question, there’s a lot of variables, that are open to a lot of debate. Like ShibbOleth said, most kids disregard race when choosing their friends so it’s probably a learned behavior. Even though we’re taught that racism is bad, most people have numerous experiences with other races which make them prone to not hang around people having that race.
During breaks in filming, actors made up as different ape species tended to hang out together— gorillas with gorillas, orangutans with orangutans, chimps with chimps. It wasn’t required, it just naturally happened.
oh well, thus the futility of mankind
I have also seen this. It seems natural to me, as others have said. Common interests, etc. As a white man, I enjoy working around and with blacks, and for whatever reason, am happy when we make a connection. Perhaps it’s because everything seems so hopeless, if you only get your perspective from watching the news. It’s my experience that when blacks and whites are working together, often both sides learn something!
Jim
