In the News

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In the News

The Model Minority Myth

5.4.17

Professor Adia Harvey Wingfield answers "how the model minority myth hurts people at work": racism affects the professional potential of Asian people from the time they become students. While Korean, Chinese and Japanese people have made it part-way into managerial ranks, Hmong, Laotian, Cambodian, and Filipino Americans remain overrepresented in low-wage jobs.

British Companies Must Reveal How They Pay Women vs. Men

4.14.17

At the current rate of progress, it could take nearly a century before the gender pay gap is closed in Britain. So the government is trying to speed up the process. Professor Jake Rosenfeld's finding that salary transparency raised wages, in part because “even being cognizant of gender pay disparity” can change norms is quoted.

Making Sense of Klansville

4.14.17

When conducting research on this chapter of history for his acclaimed book Klansville, Professor David Cunningham encountered the work of a journalist named Pete Young, who in the 1960s attempted to understand what was happening in North Carolina. He shares some of this history and describes how Young's insights could hold lessons for today.

The Failure of Race-Blind Economic Policy

2.17.17

After Donald Trump’s presidential victory, many left-leaning politicians and commentators started considering what sort of message would help them regain political power. Professor Adia Harvey Wingfield discusses about this topic.

Sociology department expands, unveils new graduate courses

2.15.17

The sociology department is ahead of schedule in its faculty recruitment plan, with six tenured and tenured-track faculty members and three postdoctoral fellows hired within the first two years of the department’s reestablishment.

Missouri joins 'right to work' movement

2.9.17

Missouri became the 28th US state Monday to adopt so-called right to work legislation, whereby employees can no longer be required to pay dues to a labor union, yet are still able to benefit from any deals procured by such a union. Professor Jake Rosenfeld comments that “right to work doesn’t seem to have much of an impact one way or another.”

On the Trail: When right to work comes, can Missouri's unions adapt?

2.3.17

When it comes to “right to work,” there’s widespread disagreement about the policy’s potential effects on Missouri’s economy. But there’s no question that Missouri’s unions are about to experience seismic change. Ptrofessor Jake Rosenfeld discusses the practical implications of right to work – and why the policy may not be a death knell to organized labor in Missouri.

Right to work: Here's what you need to know

2.3.17

The Missouri Legislature on Thursday sent a "right-to-work" proposal to Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican who campaigned on a promise to sign it. Professor Jake Rosenfeld comments that right to work doesn’t seem to have much of an impact one way or another, both in improving the state’s business climate or in terms of devastating the health of organized labor.

Rosenfeld on the poverty of America’s white working class

1.13.17

Professor Jake Rosenfeld argues that unions at their prime helped create a “moral economy” in which wages rose both in firms with unions and those without them, and in which the average worker had a notable voice—however compromised back then by nativism and other exclusionary tendencies—lobbying on their behalf in Washington

Rosenfeld and Denice on pay secrecy

1.13.17

Although U.S. employers cannot legally prohibit employees from discussing their pay, many employers implement a formal or informal policy against employees discussing their salaries. Such policies help employers maintain complete control over wages, thus preventing employee demands for higher pay and wage equality, according to a 2015 study by Jake Rosenfeld and Patrick Denice, two of the few sociologists to study pay secrecy.

Collins on Childcare and the Germany Government

1.13.17

In 2013, Germany declared that every child over the age of 1 has the legal right to a space in a public daycare facility. This past fall, while America’s election unfolded, Germany’s highest court took this mandate one step further: It ruled that parents may sue for lost wages if they can’t find a place for their child in a public daycare center.

Robinson on the intersection of race and banking

12.13.16

In the past few weeks, black-owned banks have gotten a huge boost from a movement called #bankblack, with thousands of new accounts opened and assets that have grown by as much as $6 million. Professor John Robinson says that the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act had a major impact on black-owned banks, funneling much of their previous business toward larger, whiter banks.