CAREER: Toward Improving the Conceptualization and Measurement of Discrimination

SES-0547810 Devah PagerPrinceton UniversityThis CAREER project develops a research and teaching program that advances our conceptualization and measurement of discrimination.就业方面的种族差异仍然是经济不平等最棘手的根源之一，但这些差异的原因仍然存在广泛争议。 对一些人来说，种族不平等的持续存在清楚地表明了歧视的持续重要性。 对另一些人来说，歧视被认为是早期的问题，当代的差异更有效地解释为认知技能或其他表面上非种族的变量。 由于缺乏精确的测量技术，这场辩论的解决方案在一定程度上被模糊了。 如果要在评估歧视的相关性方面取得进展，就需要制定更严格的措施，审查歧视何时以及如何发生。 该项目有三个主要目标。 首先，这项研究旨在促进我们对歧视在经济排斥弱势青年男子方面所起作用的理解。 通过调查就业歧视的普遍性、相关性和机制，本研究将揭示经济自给自足的这一重要障碍。 第二，这项研究的目的是改进歧视的实证衡量，并制定一个框架，研究歧视问题的补充方法。 使用实验场方法，调查设计，深入访谈和实验室实验，PI将开发一个综合的研究计划，建立顺序和比较跨研究领域。 最后，这项研究旨在开发一套工具和资源，可以随时部署用于教育目的。 更广泛的影响关于种族问题的持续重要性的问题不仅对学术讨论很重要，而且对紧迫的公共和政策辩论也很重要。例如，最高法院最近关于平权行动的裁决密切关注基于种族的政策是否是当今歧视所必需的问题。同样，为执行反歧视法而分配资源，至少部分是根据持续存在歧视行为的证据。社会科学研究可以在这些讨论中发挥关键作用。我们对歧视何时发生以及如何发生了解得越多，就越能制定出减少其影响的有效战略。

SES-0547810Devah PagerPrinceton UniversityThis CAREER project develops a research and teaching program that advances our conceptualization and measurement of discrimination. Racial differences in employment remain among the most intractable sources of economic inequality, and yet the causes of these disparities remain widely disputed. To some, the persistence of racial inequality is a clear sign of the continuing significance of discrimination. To others, discrimination is discounted as the problem of an earlier era, with contemporary disparities explained more effectively by measures of cognitive skill or other ostensibly non-racial variables. Resolution to this debate has in part been obscured by a lack of precise measurement techniques. If headway is to be made in evaluating the relevance of discrimination, there is a need to develop more rigorous measures for examining when and how discrimination takes place. This project has three primary goals. First, the research aims to advance our understanding of the role of discrimination in the economic exclusion of young disadvantaged men. By investigating the prevalence, correlates, and mechanisms underlying employment discrimination, this research will shed light on this important barrier to economic self-sufficiency. Second, this research aims to improve the empirical measurement of discrimination, and to develop a framework of complementary methodologies for studying questions of discrimination. Using experimental field methods, survey designs, in-depth interviews, and laboratory experiments, the PI will develop an integrated research program that builds sequentially and comparatively across research domains. And finally, this research aims to develop a set of tools and resources that can be readily deployed for educational purposes. Broader ImpactsQuestions about the continuing significance of race matter not only for academic discussions, but also for pressing public and policy debates. The recent Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action, for example, focused closely on the question of whether race-based policies are necessary for present-day discrimination. Likewise, the allocation of resources to enforce anti-discrimination laws are based at least in part on evidence of persistent acts of discrimination. Social science research can play a critical role in these discussions. The more we know about when and how discrimination takes place, the more effectively strategies can be developed to reduce its influence.