Eight out of every 10 lawyers are white. Social scientists and architects are probably in need of some diversity too. — theatlantic.com
The Atlantic has put together an informative interactive chart detailing the racial compositions of some of America's least diverse professions. As expected, architecture still ranks high up with 77.7% Whites — a much discussed phenomenon here on Archinect.
We want to hear from you: Have you been seeing an increase in diversity in architectural practice and education?
34 Comments
There is no surprise that high barriers to entry that favor privilage render a profession that mirrors the demographic of privilage...
This has got to change. I think its one of the barriers that keeps the profession from reinventing itself.
?
Census facts from 2013 show that U.S. is 77.7% white. (censusbureau)
Architecture is 77.7% white (theatlantic above).
I fail to see the problem. How are whites are over-represented? From these numbers we are the profession that most closely mirrors its population. Well done.
It's unfortunate how common it is to ignore probability. Your news media knows this, one-liners are easy to diagram and regurgitate, and we'll avoid critical thinking if the narrative fits our bias.
If you have ten marbles in a sock and 8 are red and 2 are blue, odds are better that you will draw a red. Further, once you've taken out all ten, you'll have more red than blue. That's not racist.
'statistics don't lie but liars use statistics' - pithocrates
Surprise! The media is a hate machine.
"The meaning of all of that, some media is the wack
As you believe it's true
It blows me through the roof
Suckers, liars, get me a shovel
Some writers I know are damn devils
For them I say, don't believe the hype"
-Public Enemy
3.4 % are Black while Blacks make up 13.2 % of the US population.
11.6 % are Asian while Asians make up 5.4% of the US population.
6.1% are Hispanic/Latino while Hispanics make up 17.4% of the US population.
So you are saying the problem is Asian people
Well you can't argue that the profession closely mirrors the general population's demographics when it doesn't.
In fact, of all of those professions listed, Architecture has the smallest percentage of Blacks.
"Census facts from 2013 show that U.S. is 77.7% white. (censusbureau)
Architecture is 77.7% white (theatlantic above). "
Such apples-to-apples comparison does not do any justice, as the census facts are country-wide, but the concentration of architects is mostly in developed/urban areas, where the demographics are more mixed -- but the diversity in our field is not represented.
Example - I went to Arch. School in LA - there was only 1 person of African-American persuasion in a school of 200.
I work in a large office with a 100 design staff - lost of asians, but 1 Hispanic person, and no African-Americans.
So your problem is Asian people and Black peoples. But the article is presented as boo whitey.
Man racism is so thick these days you can taste it.
Fred is trying so hard to make this about reverse racism. Why?
and Fred qouted Public Enemy to make his point.
So here is a question regarding those numbers davvid posted. If the numbers stack up as
African American -3.4 % vs. 13.2 %
Asian -11.6 % vs. 5.4%
Hispanic- 6.1% vs. 17.4%
What is the percentage of non US natives among these groups and European Americans included? Wondering how that would redistribute the numbers.
Evidently Fred hangs out with Harry Allen...
Demonizing the majority is usually not a good rhetorical move. Why do you think Obama doesn't do that? The article is presented as white people are the problem... I'm not naive about the history but don't present it this way if you want to help your cause
Sameold -
I understand your point but the logic doesn't follow. I had to move across the country to get a job. Just because the office is in an urban environment where the demographics are skewed one way doesn't mean the office should reflect those surrounding demographics - (I think we'd agree on that) and I'd argue that thats ok and they shouldn't. The alternative would mean having white firms in city 'x', black firms in city 'y'...etc.
Davvid -
I think we'd disagree on most everything unfortunately. My point (you'll notice I mentioned only the numbers for Caucasians as I was struck by the perfect correlation) was that white's are not over-represented. While I can feel empathy to those who truly desire a job and are unable to secure one (another point that is being ignored - like maybe Asians really really like architecture?) I refuse to play martyr here, however prone to that I may be.
I think what we are all after is equal opportunity. It's a great pursuit but a terribly hard thing to measure. The mistake I think lies in confusing outcome or job acquisition as opportunity. It would be great if the metric were that straightforward. But alas, they are different things.
Good on non-whites for avoiding this horrible profession!
Race is the stupidest way to classify humans. Almost as dumb as brutalism
Booooo whitey, booooo
There are several things to take away from these numbers.
I think jla-x's point is extremely important. Of the four groups identified in the Atlantic's numbers, the two groups with the lowest median income in the US are Black and Hispanic. This suggests that a low income background is perhaps the primary barrier.
My concern is that by shutting out or not attracting architects from lower income groups, the profession fails to absorb new influences and new perspectives, which could lead to a further detachment of architecture from the culture at large.
Personally, I see the dominance of an affluent/luxury-consumer perspective (which could possibly be an influence of the dominant high income-White/Asian perspective) most clearly when architects discuss how to redevelop cities. I wonder if gentrification or affordability would be a stronger theme in architecture circles if the profession did a better job of attracting low income minority groups.
Can we all just agree to ignore Fred (clever pun name, bro) so it goes away?
Pete - why do you feel the need to silence views that differ from your own? Do you consider yourself to be a liberal?
Alright white people, our work here is done. Let's get on the ship and head to the elf retirement island. Enjoy the low wages, media bashing and long hours everybody!
I thought it was made clear in the Hobbit that elves wouldn't have any of us...
Well they let frodo and bilbo in so who knows
What is clear is that whites are ACTIVELY keeping anyone but whites out of the profession. It is well know the POWER of architecture and whites do not want non-whites in a position of power. Just the other day I saw the KKK blocking the entrance to the Architecture School, and another university has pulled ALL scholarships from non-whites, and I heard about a third that has in it's brochure that it tries hard to accept only whites. Whites ALL still think of this a is slave country and ALL whites hate ALL non whites.
This article just backs up these well known facts.
I'd like to know the split between urban and rural. Having to complete one's education by finding a firm sucked. I moved 700 miles to get a job to finish IDP.
Knoa, these are serious very accusations. What programs are you referring to?
Assuming the institution requires a permit for assembly. You should be able to make a request or demand access to the permit in order to check for intent.
If this was an informal assembly, I trust you contacted the appropriate authorities and institution representatives.
I would also be curious as to what schools are basing their scholarships on exclusion first.
Thirdly, the brochure is grounds for investigation, at the least.what school is this?
Marc, I think Knoa may be employing a rhetorical device (over-exaggeration) to make a point. Just a hunch...
I realize that those were inaccuracies. My response was a subtle acknowledgement of that problem (cite it or stop it).
Personally, I think you're being too kind when you refer to it as a rhetorical device. There's a difference between hyperbole and histrionics. The latter does not help in discourse and may have detrimrimental effects to the individual and the cause that they claim to support.
Not to mention, it was just plain sloppy.
There are multiple layers involved in the demographic of our profession as it stands. One of the root causes not mentioned yet is the recruitment and retention of minority students. No one recruited me for an architecture school. When I did arrive at Arizona state, my grades suffered and I KNOW without a doubt that my work was just as good, if not better, than many of my white counterparts and they would even tell me this! I can't tell you how many times I heard "what? how did you get a C and I got an A on this?!" My first year studio professor also constantly mistook me for "the other black guy" in my class. It was so demeaning and embarrassing. When I think back on this, I see some things more clearly. Architecture school is essentially about communicating and when there's an impediment to the line of communication between the student and the teacher it becomes a problem.
xavnow,
You bring up a very important point. So many of the root cause are based not in practice but in education.
Afternoon all,
Architecture magazine just posted this updated demographic analysis of people working towards licensure (in the old days we could refer to them as interns) from NCARB. The numbers are interesting- even encouraging- but the implicit patterns are more of a concern.
@Marc maybe I am misreading the dataviz, but it is interesting that in terms of the "Ethnic Diversity Among NCARB Record Holders" it seems the biggest jump is in white/non-white hispanics. An almost 50% jump in both demographic groups.
@Nam
Yes, it's not clear what it means given that "White hispanic or latino" and "Other hispanic or latino" suddenly appear as demographic types. I'm wondering if that's an issue of "self reporting," a change in how data is complied or something else. It does reflect trends I've heard about anecdotally.
However, the numbers just don't seem to reconcile with the previous racial diversity chart. I'm not trying to make claims that it's inaccurate and therefore telling the wrong story, but that there are some assumptions embedded in the survey tool and the in assumptions of those surveyed.
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