White Coats, Black Specialists? Racial Divides in the Medical Profession

This study assesses whether racialized patterns of medical specialization persist among a recent cohort of U.S. medical students. Data from the Association of American Medical College's 2004 Graduation Questionnaire (GQ), an annual survey of all graduating U.S. medical students, are employed to explore how factors internal and external to medical education influence specialization patterns among black and white medical school graduates. The data suggest that a degree of racial division in medical specialization endures, but that division does not neatly map onto specialty prestige and is deeply gendered. Black graduates are more likely to enter high-prestige surgical residency programs than their white colleagues, but this finding holds only for male medical school graduates. That the surgery effect emerges only with the inclusion of social factors inside and outside medicine suggests these have distinct impact across race. We conclude by suggesting directions for future studies of stratification in medicine

Black male · Family medicine · Medical profession · Political science · Sociology · Diversity and Career in Medicine · Gender Studies · Global Health Workforce Issues · Medical Education and Admissions · Medicine · Psychology

• Predictors of getting a residency interview

  Open Access•Theodore R Kremer, Michael Kremer et al.•Medical Education•2021

  Incluir item

• “I just ended up in nursing”

  Open Access•Fumilayo Showers•SSM - Qualitative Research in…•2023

  Incluir item

• “To be professional, it isn't necessarily our full selves”

  Open Access•Jules L Madzia•SSM - Qualitative Research in…•2023

  Incluir item

• We're IMGs, and we're often seen as human garbage outside of primary care

  Open Access•Grace Franklyn•Social Science & Medicine•2023

  Incluir item

• The Resurgence of Medical Education in Sociology

  Open Access•Roi Livne, Kelly Underman et al.•Journal of Health and Social…•2021

  Incluir item

• Dual Autonomies, Divergent Approaches

  Open Access•Roi Livne, Tania M Jenkins•Journal of Health and Social…•2018

  Incluir item

• Disaggregating inequalities in the career outcomes of international medical graduates in the United States

  Open Access•Rebecca Anna Schut•Sociology of Health & Illness•2022

  Incluir item

• Do Patients Choose Physicians Of Their Own Race?

  Somnath Saha, Sara H Taggart et al.•Health Affairs•2000

  Incluir item

• The bell curve

  Charles A Murray, Richard J Herrnstein•The bell curve•1996

  Incluir item

• Patient satisfaction and ethnic identity among American Indian older adults

  Open Access•Eva Marie Garroutte, Robert M Kunovich et al.•Social Science & Medicine•2004

  Incluir item

• Black Wealth / White Wealth

  Melvin Oliver, Melvin L Oliver et al.•Black Wealth / White Wealth•2013

  Incluir item

• Barack Obama and the Politics of Race

  Open Access•Martell L Teasley, Martell Teasley et al.•Journal of Black Studies•2010

  Incluir item

• Closing the Gap

  Open Access•Keisa Bennett, Julie Phillips et al.•The AMA Journal of Ethic•2009

  Incluir item

• Increasing Representation, Maintaining Hierarchy

  Open Access•Georgiann Davis, R Allison•Social Thought and Research•2013

  Incluir item

• Homophily of Network Ties and Bonding and Bridging Social Capital in Computer-Mediated Distributed Teams

  Open Access•Y Connie Yuan, Yuan Yu et al.•Journal of Computer-Mediated…•2006

  Incluir item

• Race and Loss of Privilege

  Open Access•George Wilson, Debra Branch Mcbrier•Sociological Forum•2005

  Incluir item

• Middle-Aged and Older Latino American Women in the Patient-Doctor Interaction

  Open Access•Patricia Flynn Weitzman, Grace Chang et al.•Journal of Cross-Cultural…•2004

  Incluir item

• Patient Race/Ethnicity and Quality of Patient–Physician Communication During Medical Visits

  Rachel L Johnson, Debra Roter et al.•American Journal of Public Health•2004

  Incluir item

• The Color Line and the Quality of Life in America

  Dianne M Pinderhughes, Reynolds Farley et al.•Journal of American History•1988

  Incluir item

• Rediscovering the Color Line within Work Organizations

  Open Access•Steven Peter Valla, Steven P Vallas•Work and Occupations•2003

  Incluir item

• Appropriate Tests of Racial Wage Discrimination Require Controls for Cognitive Skill

  George Farkas, Keven Vicknair•American Sociological Review•1996

  Incluir item

• Race and Workplace Integration

  Open Access•Kevin Stainback, Corre L Robinson et al.•American Behavioral Scientist•2005

  Incluir item

• An analysis of medical students' residency and specialty choices

  Open Access•Mary P Taggart, Steven A Wartman et al.•Social Science & Medicine•1987

  Incluir item

• Gender similarities in doctors' preferences - and gender differences in final specialisation

  Open Access•Elisabeth Gjerberg•Social Science & Medicine•2002

  Incluir item

• Losing Ground

  Victor R Fuchs, Charles Murray•Population and Development Review•1985

  Incluir item

• Black Wealth, White Wealth

  Rodney D Green, Melvin L Oliver et al.•The Journal of Negro Education•1995

  Incluir item

• The Color Line and the Quality of Life in America

  J F Scott, Reynolds Farley et al.•The Journal of Negro Education•1988

  Incluir item

• Is Doctor-Patient Race Concordance Associated with Greater Satisfaction with Care

  Thomas A Laveist, Amani Nuru-Jeter et al.•Journal of Health and Social…•2002

  Incluir item

• Relative Income Expectations, Expected Malpractice Premium Costs, and Other Determinants of Physician Specialty Choice

  B F Kiker, Michael Zeh et al.•Journal of Health and Social…•1998

  Incluir item

• The Bell Curve

  François Nielsen, Richard J Hernstein et al.•Social Forces•1995

  Incluir item

• Physician Career Outcomes and the Process of Medical Education

  Robert J Marshall, John P Fulton et al.•Journal of Health and Social…•1978

  Incluir item

• Ties That Bind? Race and Networks in Job Turnover

  J A Kmec•Social Problems•2007

  Incluir item

• Black Mobility in White Corporations

  Sharon M Collins•Social Problems•1997

  Incluir item

• New Approaches to Understanding Racial Prejudice and Discrimination

  L Quillian•Annual Review of Sociology•2006

  Incluir item

• Birds of a Feather

  Miller Mcpherson, L Smith-Lovin et al.•Annual Review of Sociology•2001

  Incluir item

• Gender and the Body of Medicine or at Least Some Body Parts

  Open Access•Susan W Hinze•Sociological Quarterly•1999

  Incluir item

• A Change Has Come

  Open Access•Lawrence D Bobo, Matt Dawson et al.•Du Bois Review Social Science…•2009

  Incluir item