The Black Ceiling

Woodson combines wide-ranging qualitative research with macro sociological insights to present a revealing picture of the systemic barriers against Black advancement in US professional services firms. Time and again, he shows that while overt discrimination may not be experienced frequently, a combination of subjective performance evaluation methods, homophilic preferences, and differential personal experiences built up over a lifetime pose significant barriers to getting to true fairness in the workplace. Woodson is careful not to lay the blame solely at the feet of employers - indeed, he shows how many stakeholders will have to work across very long time horizons to dismantle the unfair barriers that have emerged over time. Highly recommend