Lecture 3/31/97

Overview of where we've been…

Big Theories:

  1. Biological theories, evolutionary theory
  2. Psychological theories: Object relations, social psychology of expectations
  3. Economic theories: Human capital theory, economic rationalization
  4. Sociological theories: social network theory, ethnomethodology, resource theory, life course theory

How would they predict the way the world would change? Do they predict change?

Small theories:

Sexism, path to math,

Topics:

Childhood and play

Schooling

Language

Image, Sexuality (teen sex)

Marital Events

Housework, Families and Gender

Next topics:

Work ($'s, labor force participation, occupation segregation, sexual harrassment, the glass ceiling)

Race, Social Change and Economic Development

Poverty, Welfare and Gender

Work trends. $'s, LFP, and Occupations.
  1. Earnings
    1. earnings gap exists but is beginning to narrow
    2. Education as an explanation for the gap? Maybe, maybe not.

Why is there a gap and why is it narrowing?
  1. Labor Force Participation
    1. history of lfp and women joining the workforce
    2. life course trends and changes (m to upside down u shaped curves)
    3. increasing commitment to work
  1. Occupational Sex Segregation
    1. Tend to different
    2. index of sex segregation - % of men or women who would have to change jobs to yield equal representation.
    3. earnings within occupations

Why do women do different jobs and why do they earn less both across jobs/occupations and within occupations?

  1. Choice - Human Capital Theory - theory of individual agency (economists)
  2. Constraints - social structural theories/hypotheses
    1. discrimination (stereotyping, harrassment)
    2. structures of organizations (power, steepness of hierarchy, numbers, social networks and people's roles).
    3. What are the policy or social change aspects of each of these perspectives?