Syllabus for SOC 793B: Labor Market Inequality
Fall Session 2005, 4:00 - 6:30, Wednesdays
Classroom: W32 Machmer Hall
Professor: Michelle Budig
Office: W33 Machmer, Office Hours: Monday 2:30-3:30 and Friday Noon – 1pm
Telephone: 545-5972 e-mail: budig@soc.umass.edu
COURSE GOALS:
1. To provide a conceptual and theoretical framework for understanding labor market inequality in the United
States. Students should be able to articulate how the respective theories contribute to our understanding of labor
market inequity and are expected to offer critiques of each of the theoretical perspectives we cover.
2. To introduce students to the empirical literature on labor market inequality in the United States. Students should
be able to describe current trends, including the overall growth in income and wage inequality that occurred in the
1980s in the U.S., and the current gap in income and wages.
3. To push forward the research agendas of the students in the class by working towards a publishable paper or
fundable grant proposal.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Required Readings:
A packet of articles (required) is available at the Textbook Annex on the UMass Campus
3 Required books are also available at the Textbook Annex.
1. Bernhardt, Annette, Martina Morris, Mark S. Handcock, and Marc A. Scott. 2001. Divergent Paths: Economic
Mobility in the New American Labor Market. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
2. Levy, Frank. 1998. The New Dollars and Dreams: American Incomes and Economic Change. NY: Russell Sage.
3. Wilson, William Julius. 1996. When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. NY: Vintage Books.
Term Paper and Presentation:
Each student will work on a paper or proposal relevant to gender and/or employment during the semester. Students
should orient their work toward either a publishable paper or a research grant proposal. Papers or grant proposals
begun previously may be used if substantial progress is made on the paper/proposal during the semester. Projects
begun during the semester should culminate in an all-but-the-data-analysis term paper (with proposed plan for
conducting the research). Projects will be graded as follows:
1- Page summary of proposed term paper (due 9/21)
Full outline of proposed paper (due 10/26)
First full draft of paper (due 11/23)
Class Presentation of term paper (12/13)
Final paper (due 12/23)
5% of final grade
5%
5%
15%
40%
Peer Review
You will write a review of another student’s draft of her/his term paper (due 11/23) and share comments one-onone in class (11/30). Your review will count as 15% of your final grade.
Discussion Leader
Each student will prepare and lead two class discussions from two different topics on the course schedule. This
involves a very brief presentation of the main points of the reading, unanswered questions you have about the topic,
and provocative questions for further class discussion on the readings or topic more broadly. Each class discussion
will count as 5% of the final grade (for a total of 10%).
Class Participation
Class attendance, preparation and attendance are expected. Participation will count as 5% of your final grade.
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COURSE SCHEDULE
September 7th, Lay of the Land, Part 1
Levy, Frank. 1998. Pp1-125 and 187-197. (Req’d book)
September 14th, Lay of the Land, Part 2
McCall, Leslie. 2000. “Explaining Levels of Within-Group Wage Inequality in US Labor Markets.” Demography
37:415-430. JSTOR
Morris, Martina, and Bruce Western. 1999. “Inequality in Earnings at the Close of the Twentieth Century.” ARS
25:623-57. JSTOR
Reskin, Barbara. 2003. “Including Mechanisms in Our Models of Ascriptive Inequality.” ASR 68(1):1-21.
Toosi, Mitra. 2002. “A Century of Change: US Labor Force from 1950 to 2050.” Monthly Labor Review (May)
15-28. On-Line: http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/archive.htm
September 21st, Origins of Inequality: Human & Social Capital, and Family Structure
1- Page summary of proposed term paper due!
Coleman, James. 1988. “Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital.” AJS 94(supp):95-121. JSTOR
Lareau, Annette. 2002. “Invisible Inequality: Social Class and Childrearing in Black Families and White
Families.” ASR 67:747-76. JSTOR
Warren, John, Robert Hauser, and James Sheridan. 2002. “Occupational Stratification Across the Lifecourse.” ASR
67:432-55. JSTOR
Wilson, William Julius. 1996. Chapters 3 and 4. (Req’d Book)
September 28th, Origins of Inequality: Educational Attainment and Job Skills
Correll, Shelley. 2001. “Gender and the Career Choice Process: The Role of Biased Self-Assessments.” AJS
106(6):1691-1730.
Farkas, George. 2003. “Cognitive Skills and Noncognitive Traits and Behaviors in Stratification Processes.” ARS
29:541-62.
Lucas, Samuel. 2001. “Effectively Maintained Inequality: Education Transitions, Track Mobility, and Social
Background Effects.” AJS 106:1642-90.
Kao, Grace and Jennifer Thompson. 2003. “Racial and Ethnic Stratification in Educational Achievement and
Attainment.” ARS 29:417-42.
October 5th, Origins of Inequality: Erosion of Job Quality Among Less Skilled Workers
Bound, John and Richard Freeman. 1992. “What Went Wrong? The Erosion of Relative Earnings and
Employment among Young Black Men in the 1980s.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 107:201-232. JSTOR
Card, David and John DiNardo. 2002. “Skill-Biased Technological Change and Rising Wage Inequality: Some
Problems and Puzzles.” Journal of Labor Economics 20(4):733-783. See:
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JOLE/journal/issues/v20n4/200403/200403.web.pdf
Jencks, Christopher, Laurie Perman, and Lee Rainwater. 1988. “What is a Good Job? A New Measure of LaborMarket Success.” AJS 93:1322-57. JSTOR
Kalleberg, Arne, Barbara Reskin, and Ken Hudson. 2000. “Bad Jobs in America: Standard and Nonstandard
Employment Relations and Job Quality in the United States.” ASR 65:256-78. JSTOR
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October 19th, Structural Theories of Labor Market Inequality: Split Labor Markets & Middleman Minorities
Bonacich, Edna. 1972. "A Theory of Ethic Antagonism: The Split Labor Market" ASR, 37: 547-559. JSTOR
Bonacich, Edna. 1976. “Advanced Capitalism and Black/White Relations in the United States: A Split Labor
Market Interpretation.” ASR 68(1): 34-51. JSTOR
Bonacich, Edna. 1973. "A Theory of Middleman Minorities" A Theory of Middleman Minorities." ASR 38: 583594. JSTOR
Piore, Michael J. 1994, "The dual labor market: theory and implications." Pp. 359-61 in David B. Grusky (ed.),
Social Stratification. Newbury Park: Westview Press. PACKET
October 26th, Structural Theories of Labor Market Inequality: Occupational & Industrial Segregation
Glenn, Evelyn Nakano. 1992 "From Servitude to Service Work: historical continuity in the racial division of paid
reproductive labor." Signs 18(1):1-43. JSTOR
Kaufman, Robert. 2002. “Assessing Alternative Perspectives on Race and Sex Employment Segregation.” ASR
67:547-72. JSTOR
Reskin, Barbara and Denise Bielby. 2005. “A Sociological Perspective on Gender and Career Outcomes.”
Journal of Economic Perspectives 19(1):71-86. PACKET
Reskin, Barabara. 1988. “Bringing the Men Back In: Sex Differentiation and the Devaluation of Women’s Work.”
Gender and Society 2(1):58-81. JSTOR
Tomaskovic-Devey, Donald. Gender and Racial Inequality at Work: Sources and Consequences of Job Segregation.
Ithaca, NY: ILR Press. pp. 3-17. PACKET
November 2nd, Theories of Labor Market Inequality: Discrimination
Full outline of proposed paper due!
Coleman, Major. 2003. “Job Skill & Black Male Wage Discrimination.” Social Science Quarterly 84:892-905.
Elliott, James and Ryan Smith. 2004. “Race, Gender, & Workplace Power.” ASR 69(3):365-86.
Neckerman, Kathryn and Joleen Kirschenman. 1991. "Hiring Strategies, Racial Bias, and Inner-City Workers."
Social Problems 38(4):433-47. JSTOR
Pager, Devah. 2003. “The Mark of a Criminal Record.” AJS 108(5):937-75.
Peterson, Trond and Ishak Saporta. 2004. “The Opportunity Structure for Discrimination.” AJS 109(4):852-901.
November 7th, Other Theories of Labor Market Inequality
Social Capital, Networks, and Hiring
Aguilera, Michael and Douglas Massey. 2003. “Social Capital and the Wages of Mexican Migrants: New
Hypotheses and Tests.” Social Forces 82(2):671-701.
Smith, Susan. 2005. “Don’t Put My Name on It: Social Capital Activation and Job-Finding Assistance among the
Black Urban Poor.” AJS 111(1):1-57.
Skills Mismatch & Economic Restructuring
Handel, Michael. 2003. “Skills Mismatch in the Labor Market.” ARS 29:135-165.
Kalleberg, Arne, Jeremy Reynolds, and Peter Marsden. 2003. “Externalizing Employment: Flexible Staffing
Arrangements in US Organizations.” Social Science Research 32:525-52.
Wilson, William Julius. 1996. Chapters 2 and 5. (Req’d book)
November 16th, Working in the New Economy: Changing Labor Market Opportunities and Structures
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Bernhardt, Annette, Martina Morris, Mark S. Handcock, and Marc A. Scott. 2001. Divergent Paths: Economic
Mobility in the New American Labor Market. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. (Req’d Book)
November 23rd, Thanksgiving -- No class, but First full draft of paper due!
November 30th, Working in the New Economy: Self-employment and Contingent Work
Arum, Richard and Walter Muller. 2004. Reemergence of Self-Employment. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press. Chapters 1, 6, and 13 PACKET
Budig, Michelle J. Forthcoming. “Intersections on the Road to Self-Employment: Gender, Family, and
Occupational Class.” Social Forces. PAPER. TABLES.
Hipple, Steven. 2001. “Contingent Work in the Late-1990s.” Monthly Labor Review 124(3):3-27
http://stats.bls.gov/opub/mlr/archive.htm
Valenzuela, Abel. 2003. “Day Labor Work.” ARS 29:307-33.
December 7th, Peer Review
Peer Review: Student and Faculty comments shared on paper drafts – written
comments due!
Reading List: to be determined by students
-orWorkshop: Discussion of secondary data available to analyze labor market inequality:
how to find it and how to use it.
December 13th, Student Presentations
December 23, No Class, Final paper due!
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