Week 10 Articles Flashcards
What is the central focus of Letian Zhang’s 2023 study on workplace inequality?
Racial inequality in work environments, beyond wage gaps and occupational attainment.
What are the two theorized processes behind racial inequality in work environments?
1: Workers get sorted into jobs in unfair ways because of exclusion or bias.
2: Racial differences in where people live and the types of jobs they have can carry over and affect workplace inequality
What workplace dimensions were used to assess work environments in the study?
Manager quality, firm culture, work-life balance, and job security/promotion opportunities.
What did the study find about firms with higher proportions of Black employees?
They scored lower in manager quality, firm culture, and work-life balance, even after controlling for occupation, industry, and geography
Why is the “compensating differential hypothesis” rejected in Zhang’s study?
Because racial minorities do not receive better work environments in exchange for lower wages.
What explains the positive work environment scores associated with Asian and Hispanic employees?
These advantages largely disappear after controlling for occupation, industry, and geography—indicating a spillover effect
What does the study by Zhang reveal about racial disparities in job satisfaction?
Black employees report significantly lower job satisfaction than White employees, even within the same occupations
What was the main research question of the article by Kaida and Boyd (2022)?
whether gender occupational segregation in Canada continued to decline from 1991 to 2016, and what factors contributed to the change
What are vertical and horizontal segregation?
Vertical segregation refers to inequality in occupational status or pay
horizontal segregation refers to the distribution of men and women across different types of occupations
What is the “stalled gender revolution” thesis referenced in the article?
The idea that progress in reducing gender inequality slowed significantly after initial rapid gains in the 1960s–1980s
what is compensating differential hypothesis
the idea that workers are paid more to make up for unpleasant or risky aspects of a job
