Preference discrimination and faculty diversity

Abstract

Drawing upon Becker’s theory of preference discrimination, this paper proposes a theoretical framework that analyzes the effect of employer discrimination, employee discrimination and customer discrimination on faculty diversity. The authors then consider institutional features of the U.S. academic workplace in order to discuss the extent to which each source of discrimination can explain faculty diversity across universities. This discussion suggests that customer discrimination is a particularly convincing argument to explain differences in faculty diversity across U.S. universities. Finally, research directions are suggested.