Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Meaning and Evaluation of Fathers in the Professional Workplace

博士论文研究：职业职场中父亲的意义与评价

• 批准号: 1332633
• 负责人: Melissa Milkie
• 金额: $ 1.11万
• 依托单位: University of Maryland, College Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2014-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1332633&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Meaning; Evaluation

SES-1332633Melissa MilkieKathleen DennyUniversity of Maryland College ParkAll else being equal, fathers earn more than childless men and all women in the professional workplace, a phenomenon referred to as the "fatherhood wage premium." Moreover, survey research shows that certain fathers, namely those who are married, white, and highly involved with their children, are privileged over others. Individual-level explanations, such as positive selection and productivity, do not fully explain fathers' earnings advantage or variation in that advantage. Employer bias is often cited, though rarely empirically examined, as an important factor responsible for privileging fathers over non-fathers and certain fathers over others in the professional workplace. This dissertation project examines the contours of father preference in the workplace and attends to several critical gaps in our understanding of how, why, and which fathers are advantaged in the workplace. The primary research objectives are to analyze: (1) how fathers' level of involvement with their children is evaluated in the professional workplace; (2) how level of involvement is evaluated for fathers of different racial/ethnic backgrounds; (3) how fathers of different racial/ethnic backgrounds are evaluated without involvement level specified; and (4) how employer characteristics, including gender, race, and parental status, influence evaluations of fathers in the professional workplace. The study addresses these objectives through an experimental vignette study and a semi-structured interview study. The experiment examines how a representative sample of employed adults evaluates fathers in the context of the professional workplace. The semi-structured interview study augments the experiment by interviewing employers to determine the meanings, assumptions and stereotypes held about fathers in the workplace. This research is expected to contribute both theoretically and empirically to multiple literatures. Specifically, the sociological fatherhood wage premium literature will benefit from a clarification of the consequential yet poorly understood role of employer bias that perpetuates a pattern of workplace inequality. Further, the research is poised to challenge the broader literature on the theory of the "ideal worker." By empirically analyzing variation in what constitutes an ideal worker who is favored and privileged in the professional workplace, this research has the potential to transform our taken-for-granted understanding of who embodies the ideal worker and why.Broader ImpactsFindings from the proposed study will be useful both within and outside of academia. Within the academic literature, the project will contribute to our understanding of certain advantage hierarchies in the workplace. The research will also serve applied and practical purposes given its overall focus on gender- and race-based workplace bias and discrimination. With effective publicizing and circulation of results, this research has the potential to induce action and encourage organizations to seriously assess their own workplace patterns and practices. In doing so, project results are expected to bring critical yet likely largely unperceived sources of workplace inequality to light within and across workplaces.

玛丽莎·米尔基马里兰大学的凯瑟琳·丹尼在其他条件相同的情况下，父亲的收入比没有孩子的男性和职场上的所有女性都要高，这一现象被称为“父亲工资溢价”。此外，调查研究表明，某些父亲，即已婚、白人和高度关心孩子的父亲，比其他父亲享有特权。个人层面的解释，如积极选择和生产率，不能完全解释父亲的收入优势或这种优势的变化。雇主偏见经常被引用为一个重要因素，尽管很少经过实证检验，因为这是在专业工作场所让父亲优先于非父亲、某些父亲优先于其他父亲的重要因素。这篇论文考察了职场中父亲偏好的轮廓，并关注了我们在理解如何、为什么以及哪些父亲在职场中具有优势方面的几个关键差距。主要的研究目标是分析：(1)如何评估父亲在专业工作场所对子女的参与程度；(2)如何评估不同种族/民族背景的父亲的参与程度；(3)如何在没有具体说明参与程度的情况下评估不同种族/民族背景的父亲；以及(4)雇主特征，包括性别、种族和父母地位，如何影响对专业工作场所父亲的评价。这项研究通过一个实验性的小插曲研究和一个半结构访谈研究来解决这些目标。这项实验考察了一个有代表性的受雇成年人样本是如何在专业工作场所的背景下评价父亲的。半结构化面试研究通过采访雇主来确定对职场父亲的含义、假设和刻板印象，从而扩大了实验范围。这项研究有望在理论和实证两方面为多篇文献做出贡献。具体地说，社会学的父亲工资溢价文献将受益于澄清雇主偏见的结果，但人们对雇主偏见的理解很少，雇主偏见使工作场所不平等的模式永久化。此外，这项研究还将挑战更广泛的关于“理想工人”理论的文献。通过经验性地分析在专业工作场所受青睐和享有特权的理想员工的构成因素的差异，这项研究有可能改变我们对谁是理想员工以及为什么是理想员工的理所当然的理解。这项拟议的研究的发现将对学术界内外都有用。在学术文献中，该项目将有助于我们理解工作场所的某些优势等级。鉴于其总体重点是基于性别和种族的工作场所偏见和歧视，这项研究还将服务于实用和实际目的。通过有效地宣传和传播结果，这项研究有可能引发行动，并鼓励组织认真评估自己的工作场所模式和做法。通过这样做，预计项目结果将使工作场所内部和工作场所之间暴露出工作场所不平等的关键但很可能在很大程度上未被察觉的来源。