Choice-based discrimination
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Do perceptions of controllability and choice affect the nature and magnitude of discrimination? Many groups of people, who hold seemingly controllable devalued traits, including gay men, the obese and mothers, are discriminated against both in the labor force and in other areas of life. In this dissertation, I show that perceptions of choice and controllability generate discrimination against individuals with seemingly controllable stigmatized traits. I use a hiring experiment in a highly controlled setting to assess this argument. The results provide strong evidence for a causal relationship between perceptions of choice and labor force type discrimination against gay men, obese men and mothers. When the traits were presented as voluntary, gay men, obese men and mothers were penalized when compared to their equally qualified counterparts in terms of hiring, salary recommendations and competence evaluations. To further evaluate the argument that the degree to which motherhood is conceptualized as a choice, affects the penalties associated with making this choice, I analyze the state differences in the wage penalties for motherhood. I use hierarchical linear modeling with data from the 1988-2004 Current Population Survey. The wage analysis shows that net of the usual individual and state level factors that affect wages, mothers are penalized more in states in which motherhood is perceived to be a choice women have. Drawing on moral philosophy literature and the debate around 'luck egalitarianism', the dissertation them discusses the moral acceptability of inequalities that are based on choices. Following this discussion, two main arguments regarding the appropriateness of legal protection from choice-based discrimination are developed. First, in some cases, choice-based discrimination infringes individuals' personhood and human dignity. Second, at times, choice-based discrimination generates inequality based on socially desirable behaviors. The dissertation proceeds to evaluate the differences among seemingly controllable traits, both in terms of their centrality to one's personhood and in terms of their perceived social desirability. The prevailing civil rights laws concerning discrimination based on motherhood, sexual orientation and weight are then reviewed. The dissertation ends with criteria for determining which forms of choice-based discrimination call for legal protection.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2012 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Kricheli-Katz, Tamar |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Sociology. |
| Primary advisor | Correll, Shelley Joyce |
| Primary advisor | Grusky, David B |
| Thesis advisor | Correll, Shelley Joyce |
| Thesis advisor | Grusky, David B |
| Thesis advisor | England, Paula |
| Thesis advisor | Ridgeway, Cecilia L |
| Advisor | England, Paula |
| Advisor | Ridgeway, Cecilia L |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Tamar Kricheli Katz. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Sociology. |
| Thesis | Ph.D. Stanford University 2012 |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2012 by Tamar Kricheli Katz
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