There is a very basic and understood fact that, regardless of legislation to the contrary, class, race, gender, and social status have a direct effect upon a person's ability to actualize occupational mobility. Within the working world, there are invisible structures that everyone is aware of that place limits upon the ability of any given person to move. In the cases of race and class, there are jobs and occupational paths that are simply closed to people who are not of the same race and / or class as those who do the hiring. The traditional view on race and class effects upon occupational mobility are that whites have more opportunities than non-whites and that those in the upper-middle to upper classes will have unlimited opportunities to grow in their career and others will not. It is the purpose of this paper to explore this issue from the terms of race and class and their effect upon occupational mobility.
