GRAY AREAS

Addressing racial inequities facing Black workers.

In her latest book, sociologist Wingfield, author of Flatlining, argues that a powerful set of implicit attitudes and informal practices limits the opportunities and blights the well-being of Black Americans in the contemporary workplace. The author structures the book around analyses of seven representative figures and their experiences as Black employees who have confronted this “gray area.” The experiences of Constance, a chemical engineer, teach us about the hidden prejudices lurking within science departments in academia and of a generalized reluctance among university administrators to confront systemic forms of discrimination. Via Max, who works in emergency medicine, Wingfield explores some of the challenges Black doctors face when confronting racism in the public they have pledged to serve. Through Alex, a food delivery driver, we discover how working as an independent contractor can seem to provide both autonomy and equal treatment, though the conditions of such employment may in fact obscure significant inequities. Overall, Wingfield makes a convincing case for how entrenched conventions related to hiring, networking, and promotion produce substantial—and often invisible or disguised—barriers in the workplace. “Key aspects of work—from getting a job and establishing workplace norms to advancement and mobility—were not built with Black people in mind,” she writes. Wingfield’s discussion of the evolving dynamics of gig work, and of the sometimes false promises of supposedly progressive environments such as universities, is especially compelling. Also useful is her series of practical suggestions on how workplaces might be restructured to eliminate or mitigate some of the injustices that currently exist. Though the focus on Black workers helps give the author’s argument clarity, an extended consideration of how discrimination impacts other nonwhite groups in the workplace might have been illuminating.

An informed, incisive consideration of how racial biases at work could be overcome.