Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Violent Splits Or Healthy Divides? Coping With Injustice Through Faultlines, Katerina Bezrukova, Chester S. Spell, Jamie L. Perry

Jamie Perry

In 2 studies, we investigated how groups with strong divisions may, paradoxically, help members to cope with injustice. We tested our theoretical predictions using a survey methodology and data from 57 (Study 1) and 36 (Study 2) workgroups across different industries. Consistent with our hypotheses, we found that group faultlines weakened the positive relationship between perceived interpersonal injustice and psychological distress. Cooperative behaviors within subgroups mediated the interactive effect of faultlines and injustice with psychological distress.

Employment Discrimination And The Assumption Of Equality, Michael Evan Gold

Michael Evan Gold

The assumption of equality undergirds the American law of employment discrimination. The assumption is that racial and sexual classes are equally qualified for jobs. Although it has sometimes been ignored, and can be rebutted in a specific case, the assumption of equality is fundamental to the law of nondiscrimination. Proof of discrimination in a class action, whether based on disparate treatment or disparate impact, requires the assumption. The assumption is so strong in this context that when the Supreme Court weakened it recently, Congress promptly reinforced it. The assumption of equality is also a crucial element of the law of …

Culture Matters: America’S African Diaspora And Labor Market Outcomes, Patrick Leon Mason

Patrick L. Mason

This paper contrasts the explanatory power of the mono-cultural and diversity models of racial disparity. The mono-cultural model ignores nativity and ethnic differences among African Americans. The diversity model assumes that culture affects both intra- and interracial labor market disparity. The diversity model seeks to enhance our ability to understand the relative merits of culture versus market discrimination as determinants of racial inequality in labor market outcomes. Our results are consistent with the diversity model of racial inequality. Specifically, racial disparity consists of the following outcomes: 1) persistent racial wage and employment effects between both native and immigrant African Americans …

Identity Matters: Inter- And Intra-Racial Disparity And Labor Market Outcomes, Patrick Leon Mason

Patrick L. Mason

Standard econometric analysis of African American – white inequality incorporates racial classification as an exogenous binary variable. This approach masks identity differences among African Americans: empirically obfuscating the relative importance of racial self-identity and clouding our ability to understand the relative importance of unobserved productivity-linked attributes versus market discrimination as determinants of racial inequality in labor market outcomes. Our examination of identity heterogeneity among African Americans suggests racial wage disparity is most consistent with weak colorism, while genotype disparity best describes racial employment differences. Further, among African Americans, the wage data are not consistent with the hypothesis that black-mixed race …

Mega-Cases, Diversity, And The Elusive Goal Of Workplace Reform, Nancy Levit

Nancy Levit

Employment discrimination class action suits are part of a new wave of structural reform litigation. Like their predecessors - the school desegregation cases in the 1950s, the housing and voting inequalities cases in the 1960s, prison conditions suits in the 1970s, and environmental lawsuits since then - these are systemic challenges to major institutions affecting large segments of the public. This article explores the effectiveness of various employment discrimination remedies in reforming workplace cultures, promoting corporate accountability, and implementing real diversity.

Reviewing the architecture and aftermath of consent decrees in five major employment discrimination cases - the cases against Shoney's, …

Antidiscrimination Law, John Donohue

John Donohue

This essay provides an overview of the central theoretical law and economics insights and empirical findings concerning antidiscrimination law across a variety of contexts including discrimination in labor markets, housing markets, consumer purchases, and policing. The different models of discrimination based on animus, statistical discrimination, and cartel exploitation are analyzed for both race and sex discrimination. I explore the theoretical arguments for prohibiting private discriminatory conduct in light of the tensions that exist between concerns for liberty and equality. I also discuss the complexities in empirically establishing the existence of discrimination and highlight the critical point that one cannot automatically …

Introduction To The Law Of Employment Discrimination, Michael Gold

Michael Evan Gold

This new edition of An Introduction to the Law of Employment Discrimination summarizes the federal laws that prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, age, and disability. Several major statutes, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Equal Pay Act, protect American workers from discrimination. In this handy reference guide, Michael Evan Gold discusses complex legislation in lucid, understandable terms. In his discussion of each statute, the author provides such information as:

* who is protected …