Theory Of Discrimination Research Articles

Gender, parenthood, and hiring intentions in sex-typical jobs: Insights from a survey experiment

We ran a survey experiment with Dutch employers to investigate hiring discrimination in sex-typical jobs. We ask if women are especially discriminated against when they have children, whether discrimination applies similarly in different occupations, and whether statistical discrimination or status-characteristic theories best account for discriminatory practices (if any).Employers rate fictitious candidates for either a female-typical job (primary-school teacher) or a male-typical job (software engineer). Employers are found to display a slight preference for female candidates when filling a teacher post, although such bias is less strong for female applicants with children. No such ranking is found for a software engineer vacancy, nor do we find different salary offers across candidates and across vacancies. Employers do not appear to favour men over women for positions likely to be on the career track, as predicted by statistical discrimination theories, nor do they expect women to be less capable than men, as posited by status-characteristic theory. Female candidates with children, however, are expected to be less committed to their job and work fewer hours, especially in the teacher experiment. Such expectations seem to have small consequences for the hiring decisions and salary offers Dutch employers make in our study.

SFFA v. Harvard: How Affirmative Action Myths Mask White Bonus

In the ongoing litigation of Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College, Harvard faces allegations that its once-heralded admissions process discriminates against Asian Americans. Public discourse has revealed a dominant narrative: affirmative action is viewed as the presumptive cause of Harvard’s alleged “Asian penalty.” Yet this narrative misrepresents the plaintiff’s own theory of discrimination. Rather than implicating affirmative action, the underlying allegations portray the phenomenon of “negative action” — that is, an admissions regime in which White applicants take the seats of their more qualified Asian-American counterparts. Nonetheless, we are witnessing a broad failure to see this case for what it is. This misperception invites an unnecessary and misplaced referendum on race-conscious admissions at Harvard and beyond.

Sexism, Social Outcomes, and the Gender Wage Gap

Using Google Trends data to identify hostile sexism, we find that sexism explains about 8 cents (or 41 percent) of the residual gender wage gap, the wage gap after controlling for education, occupation, industry, and age. We find evidence for a direct effect of sexism consistent with labor market discrimination and an indirect effect that works through social outcomes that reduce hours worked which itself directly affects wages. Consistent with theories of discrimination, the direct impact of sexism is greater for women who are less educated, work in less competitive industries, and work in industries with fewer female workers.

A Novel Frequency-Domain Approach for the Exact Range of Imaginary Spectra and the Stability Analysis of LTI Systems With Two Delays

This paper presents a novel frequency-domain approach to reveal the exact range of the imaginary spectra and the stability of linear time-invariant systems with two delays. First, an exact relation, i.e., the Rekasius substitution, is used to replace the exponential term caused by the delays in order to transform the transcendental characteristic equation to a quasi-polynomial. Second, this quasi-polynomial is uniquely tackled by our proposed Dixon resultant and discriminant theory, leading to the elimination of delay-related elements and the revelation of the exact range of the frequency spectra of the original system of interest. Then, by sweeping the frequency over this obtained range, the stability switching curves are declared exhaustively. Last, we deploy the cluster treatment of characteristic roots (CTCR) paradigm to reveal the exact and complete stability map. The proposed methodologies are tested and verified by a numerical method called Quasi-Polynomial mapping-based Root finder (QPmR) over an example case.

The Challenge of Basic Itch Research.

Basic mechanisms and pathways of itch signaling are reviewed, with an emphasis on the progress to date as well as remaining challenges in translating current knowledge to the clinical treatment of chronic itch. Recent studies reveal 3 subsets of pruriceptive sensory neurons highly expressing itch-related genes. Their fibers project into the spinal cord to activate neurons expressing gastrin releasing peptide (GRP) and its receptor (GRPR), which connect to neurons that express the substance P (NK-1) receptor and project to the parabrachial nucleus and thalamus. Spinal inhibitory interneurons release GABA, glycine and dynorphin to modulate segmental itch transmission. However, nearly all pruriceptive neurons also respond to algogens such as capsaicin. Alternative theories of itch-pain discrimination, such as intensity or spatial contrast, are based on the observation that focal stimulation of nociceptive nerve endings elicits itch while more widespread stimulation elicits pain. These findings cloud the issue of a labeled line for itch- a long-debated but currently unresolved challenge. In higher primates there is a dichotomy of histaminergic and non-histaminergic itch-signaling pathways which is less demarcated in rodents, suggesting species differences. A cardinal symptom of chronic itch is alloknesis, i.e., mechanical or touch-evoked itch. Recent evidence indicates that low-threshold mechanosensory afferents can access the spinal itch pathway, but are normally kept in check by inhibitory interneurons expressing neuropeptide Y (NPY). In chronic itch, NPY-mediated inhibition is reduced, allowing touch to excite itch-signaling pathways. These recent advances provide novel targets for development of therapeutic strategies to relieve chronic itch.

Is Labour Market Discrimination Against Ethnic Minorities Better Explained by Taste or Statistics? A Systematic Review of the Empirical Evidence

Scholars have gone to great lengths to chart the incidence of ethnic labour market discrimination. To effectively mitigate this discrimination, however, we need to understand its underlying mechanisms because different mechanisms lead to different counteracting measures. To this end, we reviewed the recent literature that confronts the seminal theories of taste-based and statistical discrimination against the empirical reality. First, we observed that the measurement operationalisation of the mechanisms varied greatly between studies, necessitating the development of a measurement standard. Second, we found that 20 out of 30 studies examining taste-based discrimination and 18 out of 34 studies assessing statistical discrimination produced supportive evidence for said mechanisms. However, (field) experimental research, which predominantly focuses on hiring outcomes, yielded more evidence in favour of taste-based vis-a-vis statistical discrimination, suggesting that the taste-based mechanism might better explain ethnic discrimination in hiring.

Re-Visiting the Chinese ‘Land-Mark Cases’ of Employment Discrimination in Light of Theories of Employment Discrimination and American Adjudication Practice

Re-Visiting the Chinese ‘Land-Mark Cases’ of Employment Discrimination in Light of Theories of Employment Discrimination and American Adjudication Practice

Women in Development: A Critique of Neo-Classical Economic Theory as One of the Causes for Gender Inequality

This research reviews and critiques neoliberalism and neoclassical economics for them being one of the main causes for the subordination and oppression of women. This research does not claim that neoliberalism is the axis of evil; however it discusses how alternative economic and political theories can be more useful and efficient for women and gender development. The research question is mainly concerned with how far do neoclassical economic theories perpetuate and intensify power struggle between genders? The research argues for neoclassical economic theory being a main driving force in the subordination and oppression of women, especially in global South countries that have been subjugated to structural adjustment. In order to do so, this research utilizes an intersectional feminist framework of analysis to methodologically deconstruct neoclassical economic theory and critically investigate their gendered effects on beneficiary countries. Moreover, the political conceptual framework of “inside-outside”, pioneered by Robert Cox, is the analytical tool used throughout this research. The research will, therefore, first clarify the difference between gender and sex, and clarify what I mean when I say “neoclassical economic theory”. Followed by a criticism of how neoclassical economics is a theory of discrimination. An argument for the non-existence of a separation between the global level and the social level when analyzing gender relations will be the primary objective of this study. Lastly, the research discusses how structural adjustment programs affect women, specifically women living in poverty and armed conflict.

Ethnic discrimination upon request? Real estate agents’ strategies for discriminatory questions of clients

Ethnic discrimination is very persistent on the rental market. Real estate agents hold a unique position, as the intermediate link between owners with specific (discriminatory) desires on the one hand and rental candidates on the other. By means of the relatively new technique of mystery calls among 400 real estate agents in the Brussels Capital Region in Belgium, this study sheds light on the strategies realtors follow and which justifications they make to comply or oppose to discriminatory requests of owners. It appears that an important share of realtors is willing to act discriminatory upon request. They develop a few strategies to bring discriminatory requests into practice, ranging from straightforward exclusion and discouraging minorities to facilitating discrimination by composing lists of rental candidates. Whereas quantitative analyses showed some variance in discriminatory intentions according to the ethnic neighbourhood composition, which is in line with the neighbour taste-based discrimination theory, qualitative analyses especially revealed justifications which confirm the owner taste-based discrimination reasoning. Moreover, realtors underscored the “economic rationality” of owner taste-based discrimination. In addition, realtors also referred to ideas of statistical discrimination by making distinctions between “good” and “bad” ethnic minority groups.

Neoklasyczne teorie dyskryminacji w warunkach konkurencji doskonałej — analiza krytyczna

Neoclassical theories of discrimination under conditions of perfect competition — critical analysisThe goal of this article is to analyze the neoclassical theories of discrimination in perfectly competitive labor markets. Based on the conducted considerations, the taste discrimination model, as well as the theory of human capital, demonstrated the lack of validity of these theories over a long period of time. In the short term, however, self-selection contracts or masking curtains seem to be a good solution. Despite this, the period of motherhood, which can be considered one of the most important discrimination factors, remains an unsolved problem.

A theory of quark vs. gluon discrimination

Understanding jets initiated by quarks and gluons is of fundamental importance in collider physics. Efficient and robust techniques for quark versus gluon jet discrimination have consequences for new physics searches, precision αs studies, parton distribution function extractions, and many other applications. Numerous machine learning analyses have attacked the problem, demonstrating that good performance can be obtained but generally not providing an understanding for what properties of the jets are responsible for that separation power. In this paper, we provide an extensive and detailed analysis of quark versus gluon discrimination from first-principles theoretical calculations. Working in the strongly-ordered soft and collinear limits, we calculate probability distributions for fixed N -body kinematics within jets with up through three resolved emissions left(mathcal{O}left({alpha}_s^3right)right) . This enables explicit calculation of quantities central to machine learning such as the likelihood ratio, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, and reducibility factors within a well-defined approximation scheme. Further, we relate the existence of a consistent power counting procedure for discrimination to ideas for operational flavor definitions, and we use this relationship to construct a power counting for quark versus gluon discrimination as an expansion in {e}^{C_F-{C}_A}ll 1 , the exponential of the fundamental and adjoint Casimirs. Our calculations provide insight into the discrimination performance of particle multiplicity and show how observables sensitive to all emissions in a jet are optimal. We compare our predictions to the performance of individual observables and neural networks with parton shower event generators, validating that our predictions describe the features identified by machine learning.

Establishment Closures in Germany: The Motherhood Penalty at Job Search Durations

AbstractThis study contributes to the research on motherhood penalties by investigating based on German longitudinal register data whether mothers take longer to search for a job than childless women. We develop a unique research design to test the theory of statistical discrimination as well as the theory of status-based discrimination. We use establishment closures as a starting point that creates equal conditions for all previously employed women. Following a subsequent coarsened exact matching approach, we investigate the job search length of almost 3,000 comparable full-time working childless women and mothers from almost 700 establishments by applying event history techniques. Even after extensive robustness checks that back up the main findings, we can show that mothers have lower transition rates to re-employment than childless women. When including additional information, such as higher age of the youngest child or shorter parental leave durations, both of which serve as indicators of higher labour market attachment, we find reduced differences and buffering effects on the motherhood penalty.

Testing the Theory of Consumer Discrimination as an Explanation for the Lack of Minority Hiring in Hollywood Films

The underrepresentation of minorities in cultural industries is a widely publicized problem with far-reaching economic and social significance. It is also one of many industries in which employers suggest that the locus of bias is not within the organization but with the consumer. The empirical challenge of relating consumer behavior to employee composition has constrained prior efforts to test their claim and to test the theory of consumer discrimination more broadly. As a result, employers have gradually expanded the scope of the customer discrimination theory from one rooted in direct interaction to include an aversion to simply seeing employees of a different ethnicity. We explore how consumers respond to employee composition by evaluating the performance of films released in the United States as a function of the racial diversity of their cast. We find that films with a single black actor do not differ from those with zero black actors, and that films with multiple black actors in the principal cast actually achieve significantly higher domestic box-office revenues than either. To distinguish between competing explanations for this result, we conduct a vignette-based experiment that allows us to identify a positive influence of diversity on consumers’ assessments of quality, controlling for differences in film or actor appeal. Collectively, these results help discredit one rationale for unequal hiring in cultural industries and also suggest an important qualification to the theory of consumer discrimination: in settings where employee race is visible but the consumer is physically distant, diversity is more profitable than costly. This paper was accepted by Greta Hsu, organizations.

Race and workplace discrimination

PurposeDrawing upon theories of modern discrimination, the present study focuses on cyber incivility and interpersonal incivility as mechanisms through which race leads to perceived discrimination. Participants included 408 full-time working adults who responded to an online survey. The results indicate that Non-White employees experience subtle forms of discrimination through the use of e-mail, which accentuate the need for organizations to eradicate workplace mistreatment so that their employees can avoid the adverse outcomes associated with experiencing cyber incivility. The purpose of this paper is to extend the understanding of selective incivility and concludes with directions for future research and practical implications.Design/methodology/approachParticipants included 408 full-time working adults who responded to the survey online.FindingsThe results indicate that race was indirectly associated with discrimination through cyber incivility. The results indicate that Non-White employees experience subtle forms of discrimination through the use of technology and cyber space which accentuate the need for organizations to eradicate workplace incivility so that their employees can evade the adverse outcomes associated with experiencing incivility at work.Research limitations/implicationsThis study extends the understanding of selective incivility and concludes with directions for future research and practical implications.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to explore the relationship between race, cyber incivility and discrimination.

From leave it to beaver to modern family: The influence of family structure on adoption attitudes

How do social and religious views influence attitudes of the capability and appropriateness of a prospective adoptive parent? The present experiment presents an investigation into the sources of attitudes and biases towards gay and lesbian couples and single parents in an adoption scenario. The author discusses existing theories of discrimination against LGBT populations and outgroups in general, including Social Dominance Orientation and Religious Fundamentalism, all highly predictive of LGBT bias. Current forms of adoption discrimination against nontraditional adopters from public policy makers and adoption agencies alike is explored and an empirical test of these discriminatory trends was created. Proposed adoption scenarios were presented and participant sentiments about the appropriateness of the adoption and prospective parent(s) were assessed. The direct and interactive effects of overt social and religious views were measured and these factors were clearly demonstrated to influence adoption attitudes. The present research aimed to uncover modern sources of prejudice towards gay and lesbian and single adoptive parents and offer new avenues of exploration into the foundation of such discrimination.

Almost identical but still treated differently: hiring discrimination against foreign-born and domestic-born minorities

ABSTRACT Focusing on birthplace (foreign vs. domestic) and origin group (European vs. Middle Eastern or African), this article examines the effects of cultural distance signals on discrimination against ethnic minority job applicants. Drawing on a cross-nationally harmonised correspondence test (N = 5780), we investigate how employers in five Western European destination countries (Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and the U.K.) respond to job applications from majority and minority group members, with minority job applicants being either very similar (domestic-born and/or European origin) to the majority population or rather different (foreign-born and/or Middle Eastern/African). Our results are generally consistent with taste-based discrimination theory. Employers pay attention to signals of cultural distance, which results in particularly high levels of discrimination against foreign-born minorities and against minorities originating from Middle Eastern and African countries. Although origin group has a stronger effect on employer responses than birthplace, they jointly exert an additive effect. This results in particularly low labour market chances for foreign-born minorities of Middle Eastern and African origin. Separate country analyses, however, reveal important country differences, both with respect to the size of the minority penalty and the joint effect of birthplace and origin group.

Getting a Lawyer While Black: A Field Experiment

In this Article, I present new evidence that African-Americans face unique impediments in obtaining access to counsel. Using a randomized audit design, I show that those with black-sounding names receive only half the responses of those with white-sounding names regarding requests for legal representation. I design a larger, follow-up experiment to evaluate variations on the theory of “statistical discrimination,” that lawyers are merely responding to economically-relevant signals correlated with race. I find no evidence supporting the expectations of the statistical discrimination theory, but some evidence that racial preferences matter. I conclude by presenting a more nuanced theory of racialized service rationing that is consistent with the body of experimental evidence presented and is supported by observational data. I discuss the implications of these theories for potential policy responses, including debates about affirmative action and the size of the legal profession.

Googling the Requester: Identity-Questing and Discrimination in Public Service Provision

Innovating upon previous field experiments and theories of identity-based discrimination, we test whether public officials are using searches (‘identity-questing’) to profile citizens and acting on latent biases. Pairs of ‘institutional’ and ‘non-institutional’ requesters send lower and moderate burden freedom of information (FOI) requests – providing no identity cues apart from undistinctive names, emails and ID numbers – to nearly 700 of Brazil’s largest municipalities. Results show institutional requesters receive one-fifth more responses than non-institutional comparators. For moderate versus lower burden requests, non-institutional requesters are 11% less likely to receive a compliant response than their institutional comparators. The only plausible explanation for these results is identity-questing, a phenomenon that has far reaching policy implications. Most of the world’s FOI laws, for example, contain vague ID obligations, which translate incoherently from laws to regulation and practice. Results enjoin public service providers to protect the identities of citizens by default or upon request.

Gender gap in entrepreneurship

Using data on the entire population of businesses registered in the states of California and Massachusetts between 1995 and 2011, we decompose the well-established gender gap in entrepreneurship. We show that female-led ventures are 63 percentage points less likely than male-led ventures to obtain external funding (i.e., venture capital). The most significant portion of the gap (65 percent) stems from gender differences in initial startup orientation, with women being less likely to found ventures that signal growth potential to external investors. However, the residual gap is as much as 35 percent and much of this disparity likely reflects investors’ gendered preferences. Consistent with theories of statistical discrimination, the residual gap diminishes significantly when stronger signals of growth are available to investors for comparable female- and male-led ventures or when focal investors appear to be more sophisticated. Finally, conditional on the reception of external funds (i.e., venture capital), women and men are equally likely to achieve exit outcomes, through IPOs or acquisitions.

Gender Gap in Entrepreneurship

Using data on the entire population of businesses registered in the states of California and Massachusetts between 1995 and 2011, we decompose the well-established gender gap in entrepreneurship. We show that female-led ventures are 63 percentage points less likely than male-led ventures to obtain external funding (i.e., venture capital). However, investors’ gendered preferences can, at most, explain about 35 percent of this differential (or 22 percentage points). The most significant portion of the gap (65 percent) stems from gender differences in initial startup orientation, with women being less likely to found ventures that signal growth potential. Moreover, consistent with theories of statistical discrimination, the residual gap diminishes significantly when stronger signals of growth are available to investors for comparable female- and male-led ventures or when focal investors are more sophisticated. Finally, conditional on the reception of external funds (i.e., venture capital), women and men are equally likely to achieve exit outcomes, through IPOs or acquisitions.