Discrimination: Who are the ones to blame?
In Patricia Rice’s essay, she discusses the issue of racism and discrimination on the process of most companies when hiring people, using a research made by John Baugh concerning discrimination in most companies hiring process.
In his research, Baugh proves that companies use the technique of identifying the job applicant’s race over a phone call, and that the majority of these companies won’t schedule job interviews for some races, such as African Americans or Latinos.
Personally, I disagree with Rice and Baugh when they put the blame only on the companies’ shoulders. Instead of what most people think, these companies aren’t taking it personal when they don’t want to hire some groups, instead, they are strictly thinking about what is best for their business.
Employers are not refusing to hire Latinos and African Americans simply because they “ don’t like them”. Let’s analyze the case of Latinos, for example: Central and South America are composed mainly by poor countries with corrupt politicians who provide no conditions for the population to have access to a good education. On the other hand, education is much more valorized in countries such as Germany, for example. As much as I hate to admit it, if I was the employer in question, I would certainly pay more attention to a person with a German accent than to another person with a Latino one. And I am from South America.
Everyone knows that business isn’t and will never be personal and that time is a big issue when hiring new employees, so we may just have to accept the fact that, unfortunately, some groups have to work harder than others. It is a sad situation, and it would certainly be ideal if differences didn’t exist, but they do, so the only thing that can be done is work our best to overcome them, instead of just complaining.
Do you think that the discrimination in the world is really made by the world of business or that maybe it is made by the world of politics and bad administration by some politicians?
15 comments:
I think that discrimination in the world is not only used by some politics and some business but some people in society also. We have to face it our society has been through a lot of changes in the last thousands of years but not everybody has changed with it so you can expect racism and sexism to still be an issue and its not right but that how things are. But not all business discriminate because of race so it is not fair for Baugh to run a few test and put all companies in that category and like you stated and employer is going to pick who they think better qualifies for the job.
I completely disagree with you Ana. If you would hire a person base on accent, then you are small minded and need to grow up.
You should hire a person base on the qualificiations not their accent. Sure, hire the person because of their accent but are they qualified for the position?
I blame the society for your small mindedness.
I do not think one can blame another for linguistic profiling. This may seem like an unusual statement but let me explain. In just one day our minds are bombarded with an overload of information. Psychologists have proven that in under a second we must decide whether something is worth our attention or not. That is a very short amount of time! This is where indicators (also known as stereotypes) come into play; certain indicators such as an accent help our brains decipher what is important. If not for stereotypes then we would not make it thorough one day! Everyone commits linguistic profiling to a certain extent everyday. Think about it.
Ana, I agree with you when said that most company hire for the benefits of a business, but I still think that may look or listen to people accents and let that effect how they think before they think about their business.
I agree with you Ana. Life is not fair. I hate to admit that Baugh's article didn't really surprised me.
I hate to admit this too, because it's not fair, but I also think that one's accent really affects to employers decision. Especially if one is speaking so weird that people who listen to him or her really have to concentrate on his speaking to understand him or her.
But we can't really blame businesses for doing that, all they are after is nevertheless the profit.
I agree with you Ana. If you are going to hire someone knowing how they talk or sound on a phone can really be important. Say that someone is hired for a job to answer the phone, would you want someone you couldnt understand clearly. Thats why I would have to disagree with edikan. A persons accent can play a big role on one's life and career. Being able to talk clearly will deffientaly help you during a job interview.
I disagree with you Ana. Even if they want the best for their companies, there are many African Americans and Latinos that are better prepared than people from The United States, so they should not judge with the people's accents.
I totally disagree with you Ana. An individual's background or accent does not determine their qualifications as a worker, of whatever desired positon.
For you to state that you would have to consider their accent before hiring them, shows ignorance on your behave, and I'm glad you are not in a hiring position to show just how close minded you are.
People do not choose their background and can not nor should they be held accountable for their differnces. An individual's backgound does not determine their future.
I disagree with you Ana. It is not fair for employers to judge someone based on their accent. They could be the smartest person in the world, but just because they speak a little differently an employer do not have the right to just brush them off.
I am going to have to agree with Ana. Although some people out there try to think that the world we live in is a nice place and everyone gets along just fine and no profiling goes on, that isn’t the case. In today’s society the instant someone meets a new individual they begin to classify them whether it be due to their accent on a telephone or the clothing they wear in person. The way our minds work and the society we live in influences the profile of someone even though we don’t want to admit it.
I disagree! A business shouldn't hire someone based on their accent. Just because Germany happens to be more educationally advanced than Latin America, does not mean that there isn't a Latino person out there who deserves the job more than the German person. I think that businesses should hire people based on their individual talents, and not based on their descent, ethnicity and race.
I think that the descrimination that these authors are refering to is the prenunciation of the words. I know that there are certain differences in the dialects, but people can work to pornounce their words more clearly. For example Baugh descises his voice and the people not saying put on a visage to get a job but change the way you communicate with people.
Ana had some good points in her essay. Many people may disagree, but we have to face reality. Businesses hire people based on what is going to benefit their businesses. It may seem like discrimination against different languages, but this is how the world is today.
I agree with the fact that discrimination is very prevalent when it comes to things such as jobs. It is true, that people can distinguish the difference in the voices of individuals and that can determine if this person get call for an interview or not. The question remains as stated: Who is the blame? I really can not distingush an answer!!
I agree, you shouldn't discriminate against someone because of their accent. Like Edikan said you should hire a person because of their qualifications and not on their accent. If you hire someone because of their race, then maybe that person that you didnt hire could get the job done better than the person you put in position because of their race.
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