CAREER: Toward Improving the Conceptualization and Measurement of Discrimination

这个职业项目开发了一项研究和教学计划，促进了我们对歧视的概念化和测量。就业方面的种族差异仍然是经济不平等的最难处理的来源之一，但这些差异的原因仍然存在广泛的争议。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意义。对其他人来说，歧视被认为是更早时代的问题，当代的差异可以用认知技能或其他表面上非种族的变量来更有效地解释。这场争论的解决在一定程度上被缺乏精确的测量技术所掩盖。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来审查歧视发生的时间和方式。这个项目有三个主要目标。首先，这项研究旨在增进我们对歧视在经济上排斥处于不利地位的年轻男性中的作用的理解。通过调查就业歧视的普遍性、相关性和潜在机制，这项研究将阐明经济自给自足的这一重要障碍。第二，本研究旨在改进歧视的经验测量，并发展一个研究歧视问题的补充方法论框架。通过使用实验场方法、调查设计、深度访谈和实验室实验，PI将开发一项综合研究计划，该计划将按顺序和跨研究领域进行比较。最后，这项研究旨在开发一套可以随时部署用于教育目的的工具和资源。更广泛的影响关于种族的持续重要性的问题不仅对学术讨论，而且对紧迫的公共和政策辩论都很重要。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对于当今的歧视是否必要的问题。同样，分配资源以执行反歧视法律，至少在一定程度上是基于持续歧视行为的证据。社会科学研究可以在这些讨论中发挥关键作用。我们对歧视发生的时间和方式了解得越多，就能制定出更有效的战略来减少其影响。

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.