lecture 12

Question 1

racial
differences in employment remain among the most
enduring forms of economic inequality
t of f

Answer 1

true

Question 2

employment discrimination has
generated renewed interest

Question 3

employment discrimination has
generated renewed interest

Answer 3

contemporary racial disparities

Question 4

firms are _______ to hire
young minority men—especially blacks—because they
are seen as unreliable, dishonest, or lacking in social or
cognitive skills”

Answer 4

reluctant

Question 5

“trace the employment problems of
young minority men primarily to skill or other
______ ______rather than any direct effect
of discrimination”

Answer 5

individual deficiencies,

Question 6

most of the disparity in earnings between
blacks and whites in the labor market of the 1990s is
due to

Answer 6

differences in skills they bring to the market, and
not to discrimination within the labor market

Question 7

key question of first research

Answer 7

Does employer discrimination continue to affect labor
market outcomes for minority workers?

Question 8

Clear answers are elusive because

Answer 8

discrimination is
hard to measure. Without observing actual hiring
decisions, it is difficult to assess exactly how and under
what conditions race shapes employer behaviour

Question 9

We address this issue with a field experiment that
allows _____ ______ of employer decision making.
By presenting equally qualified applicants who differ
only by race or ethnicity, we can observe the degree to
which racial considerations affect real hiring decisions

Answer 9

direct observation

Question 10

offer a more direct approach to the measurement
of discrimination. This approach, also referred to as an

Answer 10

audit methodology, involves the use of matched teams
of job applicants—called testers—who apply to real job
openings and record responses from employers…

Question 11

Testers are assigned equivalent résumés and are
matched on a variety of characteristics like

Answer 11

age,
education, physical appearance, and interpersonal
skills.

Question 12

much of the unexplained variation
that confounds residual estimates of discrimination is

Answer 12

experimentally controlled

Question 13

In part due to taxing logistical requirements, the use
of in-person audit studies of employment remains

Answer 13

rare

Question 14

Testers were
assigned fictitious résumés indicating

Answer 14

identical
educational attainment and comparable qualities of
high school, work experience (quantity and kind), and
neighborhood of residence.

Question 15

two teams that each included a white,
Latino and black testers
what was the difference between the teams

Answer 15

second
team compares black and Latino testers with a white
tester with a criminal record
- first team tests a standard racial hierarchy

Question 16

From the available population of job listings, we took
a ____ _____sample of advertisements each
week.

Answer 16

simple random

Question 17

independent variable first study

Answer 17

racialized category

Question 18

dependent variable

Answer 18

Whether or not a job applicant (tester) received a
positive response from an employer (measured by
keeping track of whether a tester was either offered a
job or called back for a second interview).

Question 19

Substantial discrimination was found, with a clear racial
hierarchy of employers’ preferences:

Answer 19

White – Latino –
Black.

Question 20

When applicants are “equal,” Blacks are less likely, at
a statistically-significant level, to have positive
responses to their job applications, than Whites or
Latinos

Answer 20

true

Question 21

When the white applicant has a criminal record,
there are ___ _____ _____differences in
positive response rates

Answer 21

no statistically significant

Question 22

relative to equally qualified
blacks, employers significantly prefer

Answer 22

white and Latino
job applicants. The findings suggest that a black
applicant has to search twice as long as an equally
qualified white applicant before receiving a callback or
job offer from an employer

Question 23

the stigma of a felony conviction appears
to be no greater than

Answer 23

that of minority status

Question 24

he fact that known information about a white
applicant’s serious criminal conviction is viewed with
no more concern than the assumed characteristics of a
young black man points to the strength and intensity of
contemporary

Answer 24

racial attitudes

Question 25

the comparison of a white felon with black and Latino
applicants with clean backgrounds provides a

Answer 25

vivid calibration

Question 26

The episodes of discrimination recorded in this study
were seldom characterized by

Answer 26

overt racism or hostility

Question 27

This experiment enabled

Answer 27

causal, quantitative
analysis (e.g., discrimination leads to differential
employment outcomes).

Question 28

causality by

Answer 28

Allow privileged insight into causality, by controlling
for other variables.

Question 29

experiments cons

Answer 29

Are expensive and time-consuming
- Are not commonly used in Canadian sociology.
 Have complex ethical implications.

Question 30

pro of experiment

Answer 30

Are an externally respected form of scientific method
– approximating the “clinical trials” of medical
researchers or the “laboratory experiments” of
natural scientists.