Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Networks

This study sheds light on the informal mechanisms that contribute to inequality by examining the relationship between gender, race/ethnicity, and networks. Drawing on network theory and status construction theory, the author examines the routes through which employees' sex and race/ethnicity affect the status of their network members. The analyses indicate that women and people of color had network members with lower status than men and Whites because they occupied positions that limited their access to and ability to attract powerful employees. The author concludes that structural rather than personal exclusion explains race/ethnic and sex differences in the status of network members.