This dissertation looks at the work life of a specific subset of managers of color, who went through the education-to-employment transition via an agency of sponsored mobility. During 1984-1986, I was able to assemble a snowball sample of 210 respondents from 17 cities, who filled out a 35-page survey. We conducted official 'survey evening' gatherings, and collected outliers through mail-out/mail-back methods. These subjects were alumni of a third-party helper organization, which I have named for the sake of this dissertation 'MAINSTREAM.' All had graduated college between 1977 and 1984. Once statistical measures of socioeconomic mobility were analyzed and interpreted, I selected a subgroup of 44 individuals for indepth qualitative interviews. Their micronarratives were put in context with ongoing participant observation at official occasions. The main research questions for our interviews centered on subtle awarenesses of inclusion/exclusion at work. With the quantitative dimensions forming an implicate order, I drew on interview answers to give shape to what I came to call MAINSTREAMers' 'Subjective Perceptions of Fairness,' We discussed MAINSTREAMers' experiences of how coworkers did or did not defer to their authority, and how this respect or its lack was indicated. A major research finding was the crucial significance of nonverbal behavior. A related finding is that the dynamics of inequality often occur at an emotional level. Likewise, MAINSTREAMers' ways of 'making it good for themselves' and maintaing motivation took place in the realm of cognitive reframes, what I came to call 'heuristic optimism,' and humor.