This course introduces students to the array of ways in race and racism influence organizational
structures and how organizational processes then shape patterns of racial inequality. Beyond
developing a theoretical tools and empirical understandings of race and organizations, the class
leverages wide ranging data and contexts to refine students’ analytic capabilities enabling them to
answer complex and pressing social questions. For example, how do we create organizational
structures to prevent racial discrimination in hiring or promotion? Why is racial inequality so
persistent across organizations from firms to schools and even the government? Does the use of
big data and algorithms produce more objective decision making that ameliorates racial inequality
or not? How has regulation and legislation improved or potentially deepened problems of race in
organizations? We will grapple with these questions and more to understand race in America through
organizations. In the process, we will sharpen our eye for identifying problems and evaluating
evidence to imagine alternative possibilities and structures for the organizations we traverse.

Class Format:

Two 1.5 hr lectures/week