3 ms·

I found it shocking too. If she didn't have much in common with her colleagues, is that really because she was a black woman and they were white males? It makes

by reidrac 11y ago

I found it shocking too. If she didn't have much in common with her colleagues, is that really because she was a black woman and they were white males? It makes me think I don't understand the importance of race in US. I mean, I have more or less things in common with my work colleagues but only because we work in the same field not because we're white males (actually I am Spanish and they're British, and the age range in the team goes from early 20s to late 30s).

ceras 11y ago
Looks like the comments here are all over the place on how much of an impact it has, but I'll give you my perspective as a hispanic in the US. Race is intimately tied with culture, which impacts your upbringing and interests. People form bonds over their interests and experiences, like talking about their childhood or the TV/music they like--the more these differ, the harder it is to form that first superficial work bond. Even when the differences aren't huge, it compounds enough that friend groups in the US are highly self-segregated. To pick another race, it's not rare to see Asian-Americans who were born and raised in America hanging out with a group of friends who are all Asian-American. The reasons could be as simple as bonding over the foods they ate growing up, the ways their parents raised them, and the TV shows / music they listened to (e.g. much more open to C-/J-/K-pop). It's the same effect for all races/ethnicities I've seen. Note that this ignores the more subtle but still important effect of people naturally liking people who look and dress like them, which has obvious racial and cultural ties too. For example, there are studies in the US that show that white people are fine living near black people, but not too many black people. Overtime, simulations show[1] that almost any definition of too many results in self-segregation. IME coming from a working class background, economic background has a similar effect on relationships, but economic background is not visually obvious like race so it's less discussed. [1]: http://ncase.me/polygons/ http://ncase.me/polygons/

by reidrac 11y ago

ceras 11y ago

Looks like the comments here are all over the place on how much of an impact it has, but I'll give you my perspective as a hispanic in the US. Race is intimately tied with culture, which impacts your upbringing and interests. People form bonds over their interests and experiences, like talking about their childhood or the TV/music they like--the more these differ, the harder it is to form that first superficial work bond. Even when the differences aren't huge, it compounds enough that friend groups in the US are highly self-segregated. To pick another race, it's not rare to see Asian-Americans who were born and raised in America hanging out with a group of friends who are all Asian-American. The reasons could be as simple as bonding over the foods they ate growing up, the ways their parents raised them, and the TV shows / music they listened to (e.g. much more open to C-/J-/K-pop). It's the same effect for all races/ethnicities I've seen. Note that this ignores the more subtle but still important effect of people naturally liking people who look and dress like them, which has obvious racial and cultural ties too. For example, there are studies in the US that show that white people are fine living near black people, but not too many black people. Overtime, simulations show[1] that almost any definition of too many results in self-segregation. IME coming from a working class background, economic background has a similar effect on relationships, but economic background is not visually obvious like race so it's less discussed. [1]: http://ncase.me/polygons/ http://ncase.me/polygons/