Syllabus for GENDER AND EMPLOYMENT (SOC



Syllabus for SOC 793B: Labor Market Inequality

Fall Session 2005, 4:00 - 6:30, Wednesdays

Classroom: W32 Machmer Hall

Professor: Michelle Budig

Office: W33 Machmer, Office Hours: Monday 2:30-3:30 and Friday Noon – 1pm

Telephone: 545-5972 e-mail: budig@soc.umass.edu

COURSE GOALS:

1. To provide a conceptual and theoretical framework for understanding labor market inequality in the United States. Students should be able to articulate how the respective theories contribute to our understanding of labor market inequity and are expected to offer critiques of each of the theoretical perspectives we cover.

2. To introduce students to the empirical literature on labor market inequality in the United States. Students should be able to describe current trends, including the overall growth in income and wage inequality that occurred in the 1980s in the U.S., and the current gap in income and wages.

3. To push forward the research agendas of the students in the class by working towards a publishable paper or fundable grant proposal.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

 Required Readings:

A packet of articles (required) is available at the Textbook Annex on the UMass Campus

3 Required books are also available at the Textbook Annex.

1. Bernhardt, Annette, Martina Morris, Mark S. Handcock, and Marc A. Scott. 2001. Divergent Paths: Economic Mobility in the New American Labor Market. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

2. Levy, Frank. 1998. The New Dollars and Dreams: American Incomes and Economic Change. NY: Russell Sage.

3. Wilson, William Julius. 1996. When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. NY: Vintage Books.

Term Paper and Presentation:

Each student will work on a paper or proposal relevant to gender and/or employment during the semester. Students should orient their work toward either a publishable paper or a research grant proposal. Papers or grant proposals begun previously may be used if substantial progress is made on the paper/proposal during the semester. Projects begun during the semester should culminate in an all-but-the-data-analysis term paper (with proposed plan for conducting the research). Projects will be graded as follows:

1- Page summary of proposed term paper (due 9/21) 5% of final grade

Full outline of proposed paper (due 10/26) 5%

First full draft of paper (due 11/23) 5%

Class Presentation of term paper (12/13) 15%

Final paper (due 12/23) 40%

Peer Review

You will write a review of another student’s draft of her/his term paper (due 11/23) and share comments one-on-one in class (11/30). Your review will count as 15% of your final grade.

Discussion Leader

Each student will prepare and lead two class discussions from two different topics on the course schedule. This involves a very brief presentation of the main points of the reading, unanswered questions you have about the topic, and provocative questions for further class discussion on the readings or topic more broadly. Each class discussion will count as 5% of the final grade (for a total of 10%).

Class Participation

Class attendance, preparation and attendance are expected. Participation will count as 5% of your final grade.

COURSE SCHEDULE

September 7th, Lay of the Land, Part 1

Levy, Frank. 1998. Pp1-125 and 187-197. (Req’d book)

September 14th, Lay of the Land, Part 2

McCall, Leslie. 2000. “Explaining Levels of Within-Group Wage Inequality in US Labor Markets.” Demography 37:415-430. JSTOR

Morris, Martina, and Bruce Western. 1999. “Inequality in Earnings at the Close of the Twentieth Century.” ARS 25:623-57. JSTOR

Reskin, Barbara. 2003. “Including Mechanisms in Our Models of Ascriptive Inequality.” ASR 68(1):1-21.

Toosi, Mitra. 2002. “A Century of Change: US Labor Force from 1950 to 2050.” Monthly Labor Review (May) 15-28. On-Line:

September 21st, Origins of Inequality: Human & Social Capital, and Family Structure

1- Page summary of proposed term paper due!

Coleman, James. 1988. “Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital.” AJS 94(supp):95-121. JSTOR

Lareau, Annette. 2002. “Invisible Inequality: Social Class and Childrearing in Black Families and White Families.” ASR 67:747-76. JSTOR

Warren, John, Robert Hauser, and James Sheridan. 2002. “Occupational Stratification Across the Lifecourse.” ASR 67:432-55. JSTOR

Wilson, William Julius. 1996. Chapters 3 and 4. (Req’d Book)

September 28th, Origins of Inequality: Educational Attainment and Job Skills

Correll, Shelley. 2001. “Gender and the Career Choice Process: The Role of Biased Self-Assessments.” AJS 106(6):1691-1730.

Farkas, George. 2003. “Cognitive Skills and Noncognitive Traits and Behaviors in Stratification Processes.” ARS 29:541-62.

Lucas, Samuel. 2001. “Effectively Maintained Inequality: Education Transitions, Track Mobility, and Social Background Effects.” AJS 106:1642-90.

Kao, Grace and Jennifer Thompson. 2003. “Racial and Ethnic Stratification in Educational Achievement and Attainment.” ARS 29:417-42.

October 5th, Origins of Inequality: Erosion of Job Quality Among Less Skilled Workers

Bound, John and Richard Freeman. 1992. “What Went Wrong? The Erosion of Relative Earnings and Employment among Young Black Men in the 1980s.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 107:201-232. JSTOR

Card, David and John DiNardo. 2002. “Skill-Biased Technological Change and Rising Wage Inequality: Some Problems and Puzzles.” Journal of Labor Economics 20(4):733-783. See:



Jencks, Christopher, Laurie Perman, and Lee Rainwater. 1988. “What is a Good Job? A New Measure of Labor-Market Success.” AJS 93:1322-57. JSTOR

Kalleberg, Arne, Barbara Reskin, and Ken Hudson. 2000. “Bad Jobs in America: Standard and Nonstandard Employment Relations and Job Quality in the United States.” ASR 65:256-78. JSTOR

October 19th, Structural Theories of Labor Market Inequality: Split Labor Markets & Middleman Minorities

Bonacich, Edna. 1972. "A Theory of Ethic Antagonism: The Split Labor Market" ASR, 37: 547-559. JSTOR

Bonacich, Edna. 1976. “Advanced Capitalism and Black/White Relations in the United States: A Split Labor Market Interpretation.” ASR 68(1): 34-51. JSTOR

Bonacich, Edna. 1973. "A Theory of Middleman Minorities" A Theory of Middleman Minorities." ASR 38: 583-594. JSTOR

Piore, Michael J. 1994, "The dual labor market: theory and implications." Pp. 359-61 in David B. Grusky (ed.), Social Stratification. Newbury Park: Westview Press. PACKET

October 26th, Structural Theories of Labor Market Inequality: Occupational & Industrial Segregation

Glenn, Evelyn Nakano. 1992 "From Servitude to Service Work: historical continuity in the racial division of paid reproductive labor." Signs 18(1):1-43. JSTOR

Kaufman, Robert. 2002. “Assessing Alternative Perspectives on Race and Sex Employment Segregation.” ASR 67:547-72. JSTOR

Reskin, Barbara and Denise Bielby. 2005. “A Sociological Perspective on Gender and Career Outcomes.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 19(1):71-86. PACKET

Reskin, Barabara. 1988. “Bringing the Men Back In: Sex Differentiation and the Devaluation of Women’s Work.” Gender and Society 2(1):58-81. JSTOR

Tomaskovic-Devey, Donald. Gender and Racial Inequality at Work: Sources and Consequences of Job Segregation. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press. pp. 3-17. PACKET

November 2nd, Theories of Labor Market Inequality: Discrimination

Full outline of proposed paper due!

Coleman, Major. 2003. “Job Skill & Black Male Wage Discrimination.” Social Science Quarterly 84:892-905.

Elliott, James and Ryan Smith. 2004. “Race, Gender, & Workplace Power.” ASR 69(3):365-86.

Neckerman, Kathryn and Joleen Kirschenman. 1991. "Hiring Strategies, Racial Bias, and Inner-City Workers." Social Problems 38(4):433-47. JSTOR

Pager, Devah. 2003. “The Mark of a Criminal Record.” AJS 108(5):937-75.

Peterson, Trond and Ishak Saporta. 2004. “The Opportunity Structure for Discrimination.” AJS 109(4):852-901.

November 7th, Other Theories of Labor Market Inequality

Social Capital, Networks, and Hiring

Aguilera, Michael and Douglas Massey. 2003. “Social Capital and the Wages of Mexican Migrants: New Hypotheses and Tests.” Social Forces 82(2):671-701.

Smith, Susan. 2005. “Don’t Put My Name on It: Social Capital Activation and Job-Finding Assistance among the Black Urban Poor.” AJS 111(1):1-57.

Skills Mismatch & Economic Restructuring

Handel, Michael. 2003. “Skills Mismatch in the Labor Market.” ARS 29:135-165.

Kalleberg, Arne, Jeremy Reynolds, and Peter Marsden. 2003. “Externalizing Employment: Flexible Staffing Arrangements in US Organizations.” Social Science Research 32:525-52.

Wilson, William Julius. 1996. Chapters 2 and 5. (Req’d book)

November 16th, Working in the New Economy: Changing Labor Market Opportunities and Structures

Bernhardt, Annette, Martina Morris, Mark S. Handcock, and Marc A. Scott. 2001. Divergent Paths: Economic Mobility in the New American Labor Market. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. (Req’d Book)

November 23rd, Thanksgiving -- No class, but First full draft of paper due!

November 30th, Working in the New Economy: Self-employment and Contingent Work

Arum, Richard and Walter Muller. 2004. Reemergence of Self-Employment. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Chapters 1, 6, and 13 PACKET

Budig, Michelle J. Forthcoming. “Intersections on the Road to Self-Employment: Gender, Family, and Occupational Class.” Social Forces. PAPER. TABLES.

Hipple, Steven. 2001. “Contingent Work in the Late-1990s.” Monthly Labor Review 124(3):3-27

Valenzuela, Abel. 2003. “Day Labor Work.” ARS 29:307-33.

December 7th, Peer Review

Peer Review: Student and Faculty comments shared on paper drafts – written

comments due!

Reading List: to be determined by students

-or-

Workshop: Discussion of secondary data available to analyze labor market inequality:

how to find it and how to use it.

December 13th, Student Presentations

December 23, No Class, Final paper due!

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