Racial and ethnic inequality in the United States, 1940 and 1950: the impact of geographic location and human capital.

"This article examines the trend in ethnic stratification from 1940 to 1950, a decade that has been viewed as a critical turning point in race and ethnic relations in the United States.... It begins with a brief overview of ethnic diversity in the United States and a descriptive account of ethnic differentiation and inequality. Then it tests--in a preliminary fashion--several hypotheses about the role of socioeconomic and geographical forces in shaping ethnic occupational inequality across this significant interval of American history. Based upon an analysis of the newly released Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files of the 1940 and 1950 Population Censuses, the study concludes that racial minorities and Hispanics experienced a qualitatively different occupational attainment process than did men in the white majority and white ethnic populations." This is a revised version of a paper originally presented at the 1986 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America (see Population Index, Vol. 52, No. 3, Fall 1986, p. 445). excerpt