Level Playing Field
(Re)Calling London: The Gender Frame Agenda within NBC’s Primetime Broadcast of the 2012 Olympiad
Andrew Billings et al.
Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, March 2014, Pages 38-58
Abstract:
All sixty-nine hours of National Broadcasting Company’s (NBC) 2012 primetime Summer Olympic telecast were analyzed, revealing significant gender trends. For the first time in any scholarly study of NBC’s coverage of the games, women athletes received the majority of the clock-time and on-air mentions. However, dialogues surrounding the attributions of success and failure of athletes, as well as depictions of physicality and personality, contained some divergences by gender.
----------------------
An “Obama effect” on the GRE General Test?
Lawrence Stricker & Donald Rock
Social Influence, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous research assessing Obama's effectiveness as a role model in alleviating the effects of stereotype threat on Black Americans' test performance yielded provocative though conflicting results. A field study with research participants observed that Black–White mean differences were not detectable at points in his 2008 presidential campaign when he clearly succeeded — his nomination and election, although they persisted at other points. But a laboratory experiment found that prompts to think positively about Obama had no effect. The present study extended this research to actual test-takers and an operational test (GRE General Test). Black–White mean differences just after the election in November 2008 were substantial and comparable to earlier differences, in November 2006; the level of Black test-takers' performance was also unchanged.
----------------------
Michael Gaddis
University of North Carolina Working Paper, January 2014
Abstract:
Racial inequality in economic outcomes, particularly among the college educated, persists throughout U.S. society. Scholars debate whether this inequality stems from racial differences in human capital (e.g. college selectivity, GPA, college major) or employer discrimination against black job candidates. However, limited measures of human capital and the inherent difficulties in measuring discrimination using observational data make determining the cause of racial differences in labor market outcomes a difficult endeavor. In this research, I examine employment opportunities for white and black graduates of elite top-ranked universities versus less selective institutions. Using an audit design, I create matched candidate pairs and apply for 1,008 jobs on a national job search website. I also take advantage of existing birth record data to test differences across social class within racialized names. The results show that although a credential from an elite university results in more employer responses for all candidates, black candidates from elite universities only do as well as white candidates from less selective universities. Moreover, race results in a double penalty: when employers respond to black candidates it is for jobs with lower starting salaries and lower prestige than those of white peers. The results hold for lower- and middle-class names, but lower-class black names are discriminated against the most. These racial differences suggest that a bachelor’s degree, even one from an elite institution, cannot fully counteract the importance of race in U.S. society. Thus, both discrimination and differences in human capital contribute to racial economic inequality.
----------------------
William Mangino
Social Science Quarterly, forthcoming
Objective: To show that in the contemporary United States, traditionally privileged categories of people — men, whites, and the super-rich — complete four-year college degrees at rates lower than their nonprivileged counterparts — women, nonwhites, and the “99 percent.”
Methods: Logistic regression and an educational transitions method are used on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Waves 1 and 4) to predict, given college entrance, who completes a bachelor's degree.
Results: Women, the lower 99 percent of the income distribution, and when economic resources are present, nonwhites all complete college at higher rates than men, the richest 1 percent, and whites, respectively. In a final model, rich white men as a single category are shown to complete college less than everyone else.
Conclusion: As previously excluded categories of people have gained access to higher education, the privileged are shifting their reproduction strategies away from schooling.
----------------------
Think Leader, Think White? Capturing and Weakening an Implicit Pro-White Leadership Bias
Seval Gündemir et al.
PLoS ONE, January 2014
Abstract:
Across four studies, we found evidence for an implicit pro-White leadership bias that helps explain the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in leadership positions. Both White-majority and ethnic minority participants reacted significantly faster when ethnically White names and leadership roles (e.g., manager; Study 1) or leadership traits (e.g., decisiveness; Study 2 & 3) were paired in an Implicit Association Test (IAT) rather than when ethnic minority names and leadership traits were paired. Moreover, the implicit pro-White leadership bias showed discriminant validity with the conventional implicit bias measures (Study 3). Importantly, results showed that the pro-White leadership bias can be weakened when situational cues increase the salience of a dual identity (Study 4). This, in turn, can diminish the explicit pro-White bias in promotion related decision making processes (Study 4). This research offers a new tool to measure the implicit psychological processes underlying the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in leadership positions and proposes interventions to weaken such biases.
----------------------
Collaborating with people like me: Ethnic co-authorship within the US
Richard Freeman & Wei Huang
NBER Working Paper, February 2014
Abstract:
This study examines the ethnic identity of the authors of over 1.5 million scientific papers written solely in the US from 1985 to 2008. In this period the proportion of US-based authors with English and European names fell while the proportion of US-based authors with names from China and other developing countries increased. The evidence shows that persons of similar ethnicity co- author together more frequently than can be explained by chance given their proportions in the population of authors. This homophily in research collaborations is associated with weaker scientific contributions. Researchers with weaker past publication records are more likely to write with members of ethnicity than other researchers. Papers with greater homophily tend to be published in lower impact journals and to receive fewer citations than others, even holding fixed the previous publishing performance of the authors. Going beyond ethnic homophily, we find that papers with more authors in more locations and with longer lists of references tend to be published in relatively high impact journals and to receive more citations than other papers. These findings and those on homophily suggest that diversity in inputs into papers leads to greater contributions to science, as measured by impact factors and citations.
----------------------
Kimberly Burris et al.
Asian American Journal of Psychology, December 2013, Pages 258-266
Abstract:
This study evaluated how both Caucasians and Asian Americans characterize successful managers and how this compares to general perceptions of Asian American and Caucasian managers. Ninety-three Asian Americans and 94 Caucasians provided their perceptions of 1 of 3 different manager types (Asian American, Caucasian, or successful) and comparisons were explored using models of effective leadership (i.e., transformational and authentic leadership) and Asian stereotypes. Results showed that for Caucasian respondents, a higher degree of resemblance was found between their descriptions of Caucasian managers and successful managers than between their descriptions of Asian American managers and successful managers. Specifically, Caucasians perceived Asian American managers as equally competent, yet less sociable, less transformational, and less authentic than Caucasians. Asian Americans also endorsed the antisocial stereotype of Asian American managers. In addition, Asian American respondents perceived Caucasian managers as less authentic leaders. The discussion explored the complex experiences of the Asian American minority group and the enduring need to foster understanding of ethnic differences in the workplace.
----------------------
Competition and Gender Prejudice: Are Discriminatory Employers Doomed to Fail?
Andrea Weber & Christine Zulehner
Journal of the European Economic Association, forthcoming
Abstract:
According to Becker's famous theory on discrimination (Gary Becker, The Economics of Discrimination, University of Chicago Press), entrepreneurs with a strong prejudice against female workers forgo profits by submitting to their tastes. In a competitive market their firms lack efficiency and are therefore forced to leave. We present new empirical evidence for this prediction by studying the survival of start-up firms in longitudinal matched employer–employee data. We find that firms with strong preferences for discrimination approximated by a low share of female employees relative to the industry average have significantly shorter survival rates. This is especially relevant for firms starting out with female shares in the lower tail of the distribution. Competition at the industry level additionally reduces firm survival and accelerates the rate at which prejudiced firms are weeded out. We also find evidence for employer learning as highly discriminatory start-up firms that manage to survive submit to market powers and increase their female workforce over time.
----------------------
Recognizing Academic Potential in Students of Color: Findings of U-STARS~PLUS
Christine Harradine, Mary Ruth Coleman & Donna-Marie Winn
Gifted Child Quarterly, January 2014, Pages 24-34
Abstract:
Students of color are often underrepresented in academic programs for gifted and talented students. This study explored the impact of The Teacher’s Observation of Potential in Students (TOPS) tool on teachers’ ability to systematically observe and document the academic strengths of 5- to 9-year-old students across nine domains. Teachers indicated that without the TOPS, they would have overlooked the academic potential of 22% (1,741) of their children of color and 53% of African American boys, in particular. After using the TOPS, a majority of the teachers (74%) felt they could more readily recognize high-potential students from culturally or linguistically different and economically disadvantaged families. Barriers that might have kept teachers from seeing students’ strengths were also examined. Results indicate two statistically significant relationships between teacher race and perceptions of student behavior. This study has implications for supporting teachers’ more effective identification of strengths in all children.
----------------------
Age-Based Hiring Discrimination as a Function of Equity Norms and Self-Perceived Objectivity
Nicole Lindner, Alexander Graser & Brian Nosek
PLoS ONE, January 2014
Abstract:
Participants completed a questionnaire priming them to perceive themselves as either objective or biased, either before or after evaluating a young or old job applicant for a position linked to youthful stereotypes. Participants agreed that they were objective and tended to disagree that they were biased. Extending past research, both the objective and bias priming conditions led to an increase in age discrimination compared to the control condition. We also investigated whether equity norms reduced age discrimination, by manipulating the presence or absence of an equity statement reminding decision-makers of the legal prohibitions against discrimination “on the basis of age, disability, national or ethnic origin, race, religion, or sex.” The presence of equity norms increased enthusiasm for both young and old applicants when participants were not already primed to think of themselves as objective, but did not reduce age-based hiring discrimination. Equity norms had no effect when individuals thought of themselves as objective – they preferred the younger more than the older job applicant. However, the presence of equity norms did affect individuals’ perceptions of which factors were important to their hiring decisions, increasing the perceived importance of applicants’ expertise and decreasing the perceived importance of the applicants’ age. The results suggest that interventions that rely exclusively on decision-makers' intentions to behave equitably may be ineffective.
----------------------
Grant Blume & Mark Long
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, forthcoming
Abstract:
Affirmative action in college admissions was effectively banned in Texas by the Hopwood ruling in 1997, by voter referenda in California and Washington in 1996 and 1998, and by administrative decisions in Florida in 1999. The Hopwood and Johnson rulings also had possible applicability to public colleges throughout Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The Supreme Court’s 2003 decision in the Grutter and Gratz cases reaffirmed but limited the legal basis for affirmative action in colleges. This article uses nationally representative data on the admissions decisions of high school students in 1992 and 2004 to estimate the magnitude of the change in affirmative action in college admission decisions (i.e., how these policy changes affected the relative likelihood of admission of minority and nonminority applicants). We find substantial declines in levels of affirmative action practiced by highly selective colleges in the states affected by bans and the Hopwood and Johnson rulings, and no evidence of declines outside these states (and thus modest and generally insignificant declines nationwide). We show how the decline in affirmative action in these particular states affects not only students in these states but also those students who live in adjacent states, particularly when the adjacent states lack highly selective colleges.
----------------------
Preferential Admission and MBA Outcomes: Mismatch Effects by Race and Gender
Wayne Grove & Andrew Hussey
B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
We consider the “mismatch” hypothesis in the context of graduate management education. Both blacks and Hispanics, conditional on a rich set of human capital variables, prior earnings and work experience, and non-cognitive attributes, are favored in admission to top 50 Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs. To test for mismatch effects, we provide two comparisons: (1) comparable individuals (in terms of race, gender, and credentials) at different quality MBA programs and (2) individuals of differing race or gender (but with similar credentials) at comparable MBA programs. Despite admission preferences, blacks and Hispanics enjoy similar or even higher returns to selectivity than whites.
----------------------
Jennifer Spoor, Jolanda Jetten & Matthew Hornsey
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, March 2014, Pages 161-177
Abstract:
Despite the fact that groups and organizations often portray themselves as more diverse than they really are, the consequences of such practices for the minority who is overrepresented are not well understood. Focusing on Asian university students in Australia, we conducted three experiments to examine minority group members’ perceptions when the superordinate group (the university) overrepresents the minority group in advertising. Minority group members tended to be less favorable toward overrepresentation compared to other types of representation (Studies 1 and 2), an effect that was most pronounced for those who strongly identified with their minority group (Study 3). The negative effect of minority overrepresentation was not detected among majority group members. If anything, in Study 1, majority group members were more positive toward overrepresentation and were more willing to help the superordinate group in an overrepresentation than a no minority representation condition. Future research directions and practical implications are discussed.
----------------------
Utilitarianism and discrimination
Alon Harel & Uzi Segal
Social Choice and Welfare, February 2014, Pages 367-380
Abstract:
Since Becker (1971), a common argument against asymmetric norms that promote minority rights over those of the majority is that such policies reduce total welfare. While this may be the case, we show that there are simple environments where aggregate sum of individual utilities is actually maximized under asymmetric norms that favor minorities. We thus maintain that without information regarding individual utilities one cannot reject or promote segregation-related policies based on utilitarian arguments.
----------------------
Arturs Kalnins & Michele Williams
Journal of Business Venturing, forthcoming
Abstract:
Studies have invoked several theoretical perspectives to explain differences between female-owned businesses and male-owned businesses. Yet, few have considered the possibility that differential outcomes between female-owned businesses and male-owned businesses vary from setting to setting, an insight that we derive by combining social constructionism with feminist theory. We articulate hypotheses regarding the outcome of business survival duration based on this insight. Then, using a dataset of one million Texan proprietorships, we test these hypotheses by estimating separate gender effects for many individual industries and geographic areas. We find that female-owned businesses consistently out-survive male-owned businesses in many industries and areas.
----------------------
The Absence of the African-American Owned Business: An Analysis of the Dynamics of Self-Employment
Robert Fairlie
University of California Working Paper, January 2014
Abstract:
Estimates from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) indicate that African-American men are one-third as likely to be entrepreneurs as white men. The large discrepancy is due to a black transition rate into self-employed business ownership that is approximately one half the white rate and a black transition rate out of self-employed business ownership that is twice the white rate. Using a new variation of the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique, I find that racial differences in asset levels and probabilities of having self-employed fathers explain a large part of the black/white gap in the entry rate, but almost none of the gap in the exit rate.
----------------------
Gender Differences in Competition and Sabotage
Simon Dato & Petra Nieken
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, forthcoming
Abstract:
We study the differences in behavior of males and females in a two-player tournament with sabotage in a controlled lab experiment. Implementing a real-effort design and a principal who is paid based on the agent's output, we find that males and females do not differ in their performance in the real effort task but in their choice of sabotage. Males select significantly more sabotage, leading to an, on average, higher winning probability but not to higher profits. If the gender of the opponent is revealed before the tournament, males increase their performance in the real-effort task especially if the opponent is female. The gender gap in sabotage is persistent. We discuss possible explanations for our findings and their implications.
----------------------
How You Downsize Is Who You Downsize: Biased Formalization, Accountability, and Managerial Diversity
Alexandra Kalev
American Sociological Review, February 2014, Pages 109-135
Abstract:
Scholars and pundits argue that women and minorities are more likely to lose their jobs in downsizing because of segregation or outright discrimination. In contrast, this article explores how the formalization and legalization of downsizing affect inequalities. According to bureaucracy theory and management practitioners, formalization constrains decision-makers’ bias, but neo-structural and feminist theories of inequality argue that formalization can itself be gendered and racially biased. Accountability theory advances this debate, pointing to organizational and institutional processes that motivate executives to minimize inequality. Building on these theories, and drawing on unique data from a national sample of 327 downsized establishments between 1971 and 2002, I analyze how layoff formalization and actors’ antidiscrimination accountability affect women’s and minorities’ representation in management after downsizing. Results demonstrate that, first, downsizing significantly reduces managerial diversity. Second, formalization exacerbates these negative effects when layoff rules rely on positions or tenure, but not when layoff rules require an individualized evaluation. Finally, antidiscrimination accountability generated by internal legal counsels or compliance awareness prods executives to override formal rules and reduce inequalities. I conclude that although downsizing has been increasingly managed by formal rules and monitored by legal experts, this has often meant the institutionalization of unequal, rather than equal, opportunity.
----------------------
Stephen Hoffman
Educational Policy, January 2014, Pages 69-95
Abstract:
This study estimates the effect of zero tolerance disciplinary policies on racial disparities in school discipline in an urban district. Capitalizing on a natural experiment, the abrupt expansion of zero tolerance discipline policies in a mid-sized urban school district, the study demonstrates that Black students in the district were disproportionately affected, with an additional 70 Black students per year recommended for expulsion following the policy change. Furthermore, the study uses negative binomial regression discontinuity analysis to explore the effect of expanding zero tolerance on the proportion of days students are suspended. Following the policy change, the already sizeable difference in the proportion of days suspended between Black students and White students increased.
----------------------
Wage Discrimination Against Workers with Sensory Disabilities
Marjorie Baldwin & Chung Choe
Industrial Relations, January 2014, Pages 101–124
Abstract:
We link information on occupation-specific job demands to data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to provide first-ever estimates of wage discrimination against workers with sensory disabilities. Estimates are derived from wage models that control for job demands related to sensory abilities, and interactions between job demands and workers' sensory limitations. Results indicate approximately one third (one tenth) of the male (female) disability-related wage differential is potentially attributed to discrimination. The results differ from estimates of discrimination against workers with physical disabilities obtained with similar methods, underscoring the importance of accounting for heterogeneity of the disabled population in discrimination studies.
----------------------
Schools, Peers, and Prejudice in Adolescence
Aprile Benner, Robert Crosnoe & Jacquelynne Eccles
Journal of Research on Adolescence, forthcoming
Abstract:
Adolescents' perceptions of the prejudice in their social environments can factor into their developmental outcomes. The degree to which others in the environment perceive such prejudice — regardless of adolescents' own perceptions — also matters by shedding light on the contextual climate in which adolescents spend their daily lives. Drawing on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study revealed that school-wide perceptions of peer prejudice, which tap into the interpersonal climate of schools, appeared to be particularly risky for adolescents' academic achievement. In contrast, adolescents' own perceptions of peer prejudice at schools were associated with their feelings of alienation in school. Importantly, these patterns did not vary substantially by several markers of vulnerability to social stigmatization.
----------------------
Female leadership and gender equity: Evidence from plant closure
Geoffrey Tate & Liu Yang
Journal of Financial Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
We use unique worker-plant matched panel data to measure differences in wage changes experienced by workers displaced from closing plants. We observe larger losses among women than men, comparing workers who move from the same closing plant to the same new firm. However, we find a significantly smaller gap in hiring firms with female leadership. The results are strongest among women who are displaced from male-led plants and from less competitive industries. Our results suggest an important externality to having women in leadership positions: They cultivate more female-friendly cultures inside their firms.
----------------------
The Revised MRS: Gender Complementarity at College
Laura Hamilton
Gender & Society, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using an ethnographic and longitudinal interview study of college women and in-depth interviews with their parents, I argue that mid-tier flagship universities still push women toward gender complementarity — a gender-traditional model of economic security pairing a career oriented man with a financially dependent woman. Combining multilevel and intersectional theories, I show that the infrastructure and campus peer culture at Midwest University supports this gendered logic of class reproduction, which reflects an affluent, white, and heterosexual femininity. I argue that this logic may only work for a minority of students, and plays a role in reinforcing class inequities among women.
----------------------
Lisa Stulberg & Anthony Chen
Sociology of Education, January 2014, Pages 36-52
Abstract:
What explains the rise of race-conscious affirmative action policies in undergraduate admissions? The dominant theory posits that adoption of such policies was precipitated by urban and campus unrest in the North during the late 1960s. Based on primary research in a sample of 17 selective schools, we find limited support for the dominant theory. Affirmative action arose in two distinct waves during the 1960s. A first wave was launched in the early 1960s by northern college administrators inspired by nonviolent civil rights protests in the South. A second wave of affirmative action emerged in the late 1960s, primarily as a response to campus-based student protests. Most late-adopting schools were those most favored by the Protestant upper class. Our findings are most consistent with a theoretical perspective on institutional change in which social movements’ effects are mediated by the moral and ideological beliefs of key administrators.