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Pathways to Skin Color Stratification: The Role of Inherited (Dis)Advantage and Skin Color Discrimination in Labor Markets

By on August 29, 2022 in Articles

Maria Abascal, Denia Garcia

Sociological Science August 29, 2022
10.15195/v9.a14

Abstract

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Research has uncovered associations between skin color and myriad outcomes. What drives these associations? We develop a theoretical framework that synthesizes the multiple pathways linking skin color with life chances. Skin color stratification should be conceptualized in historical, structural terms: as the result of unequal treatment and inherited (dis)advantage, that is, unequal resources transmitted by families with different skin tones. We assess the role of two pathways— discrimination and inherited (dis)advantage—for Blacks’ and Latinos’ employment, earnings, and occupational prestige. We use the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997, which includes a visual skin color measure; multiple indicators of family background; and a sibling subsample that allows us, using fixed-effects models, to recover the effect of skin color net of family background. First, we find that darker skin tone is associated with worse labor market outcomes. Indicators of family background account for 29 to 44 percent of skin color’s associations with employment, earnings, and occupational prestige. Second, using sibling fixed-effects models, we find that darker skin tone is associated with worse labor market outcomes, but these associations are not statistically significant. In sum, our findings suggest that we pay attention to the multiple pathways linking skin color with life chances.
Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Maria Abascal: Department of Sociology, New York University
E-mail: m.abascal@nyu.edu

Denia Garcia: La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin–Madison
E-mail: dgarcia28@wisc.edu

Acknowledgments: We thank Siyeona Chang for invaluable research assistance. We are grateful to Jason Fletcher, Mike Hout, Patricia McManus, Rourke O’Brien, Edward Telles, and members of the Center for Research on Race and Ethnicity in Society workshop at Indiana University, Bloomington for their feedback. Both authors contributed equally to this work. Direct correspondence to Maria Abascal, 295 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10027, m.abascal@nyu.edu, and Denia Garcia, 1225 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706, dgarcia28@wisc.edu.

Supplemental Material

  • Citation: Abascal, Maria, and Denia Garcia. 2022. “Pathways to Skin Color Stratification: The Role of Inherited (Dis)Advantage and Skin Color Discrimination in Labor Markets.” Sociological Science 9: 346-373.
  • Received: May 31, 2022
  • Accepted: July 13, 2022
  • Editors: Ari Adut, Filiz Garip
  • DOI: 10.15195/v9.a14


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Unions and Nonunion Pay in the United States, 1977-2015

By on August 15, 2018 in Articles

Patrick Denice, Jake Rosenfeld

Sociological Science, August 15, 2018
10.15195/v5.a23

Abstract
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We provide the most extensive investigation into the connection between union power and nonunion worker pay to date. Leveraging nearly four decades of Current Population Survey (CPS) data on millions of U.S. workers, we test whether private sector union density, measured at the occupation and occupation region levels, helps raise average wages among unorganized private sector workers. We find stable and substantively large positive effects of private sector union strength on nonunion private sector workers’ wages, especially for men. These results are robust to the inclusion of controls for the risk of automation, offshoring, the related rising demand for skill, overall employment levels, industry, and the strength of public sector unions. Disaggregating the results by occupation reveals positive and substantively large union spillover effects across a range of occupations, including those not transformed by automation, offshoring, or rising skill demands. These disaggregated results also indicate that occupational segregation limits the positive spillover effects from unions to nonunion women workers: in highly organized occupations, nonunion women benefit, but there are comparatively few women in these segments of the labor market.
Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Patrick Denice: Department of Sociology, The University of Western Ontario
E-mail: pdenice@uwo.ca

Jake Rosenfeld: Department of Sociology, Washington University in St. Louis
E-mail: jrosenfeld@wustl.edu

Acknowledgements: Partial support for this research came from a Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development research infrastructure grant (P2C HD042828) to the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology at the University of Washington.

Supplemental Material

  • Citation: Denice, Patrick, and Jake Rosenfeld. 2018. “Unions and Nonunion Pay in the United States, 1977–2015.” Sociological Science 5: 541-561.
  • Received: June 12, 2018
  • Accepted: July 10, 2018
  • Editors: Jesper Sørensen, Kim Weeden
  • DOI: 10.15195/v5.a23


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Disability and the Worlds of Welfare Capitalism

By on January 12, 2015 in Articles

Rourke O’Brien

Sociological Science, January 12, 2015
DOI 10.15195/v2.a1

Abstract
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A higher proportion of working- age persons receive disability assistance in the Nordic countries and the Netherlands than in other European countries. Whereas current research emphasizes the connection between disability assistance and rates of labor force exit, to date there has been no exploration of how welfare state context influences individual self-reported disability. Using nationally representative data from 15 countries (n = 88, 478), I find that residents of generous welfare states are significantly more likely to report a disability net of self-reported health, sociodemographic, and labor force characteristics and, notably, that this association extends to younger and more educated workers. I argue that welfare state context may directly shape what it means to be disabled, which may have consequences for evaluations of welfare state performance and social exclusion.

Erratum: Versions downloaded prior to January 30th, 2015 omitted Figure 3. As a result, those versions also have incorrect pagination. Please use the current version.

Rourke O’Brien: Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. Harvard University E-mail: robrien@hsph.harvard.edu

Supplemental Material

  • Citation: O’Brien, Rourke L. 2015. “Disability and the Worlds of Welfare Capitalism” Sociological Science 2: 1-19.
  • Received: July 26, 2014
  • Accepted: September 20, 2014
  • Editors: Jesper Sørensen,  Stephen L. Morgan
  • DOI: 10.15195/v2.a1

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