Readings and questions
Week Seven Reading Questions
For each reading, you are to select ONE question to answer from EACH set of reading questions. Then you are to select the reading that you found the MOST interesting and explain how it relates to your own life.
Each question is worth 15 points (75 total) & selected reading is 25 points
Nicole Vadino
“Seeing in 3D: A Race, Class, and Gender Lens on the Economic Downturn,” Margaret L. Andersen
Essay and Discussion Questions:
Why is it important to recognize the general absence of women in reports on the impact of the recession?
Discuss how the rise to a national unemployment rate of 10% relates to Andersen’s question, “What would we see differently were we to view the economic recession with women and people of color in mind?”
How do gender and race work together to make economic standing, according to Andersen? What does Andersen mean when she says that “a dominant narrative remains anchored in a race, gender, and class-blind perspective”?
What is the difference between what Andersen refers to as a one dimensional as opposed to a three-dimensional view of inequalities?
Identify two possible policy solutions that Andersen thinks might decrease inequalities.
“Inequality and the Growth of Bad Jobs,” Matt Vidal
Essay and Discussion Questions:
Discuss reasons why you think living standards are going down for so many Americans.
Do you think it is fair that the top 1 percent of the population has such a high amount of the nations’ wealth? Give reasons why or why not.
What would you do to change the situation so that there is not such a disparity between the top 1 percent and the rest of the population?
Do you agree or disagree with the statement by the author: “With the postindustrial economy generating an occupational structure in which 35 percent of all jobs produced are low-skill jobs, education is no panacea.” Explain your reasons.
“Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal?: A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination,” Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan
Essay and Discussion Questions:
What effect do the authors think their findings might have in influencing African Americans’ participation in work-training programs?
What solutions do you think there might be to the problem identified in the study conducted by Bertrand and Mullainathan?
What is the significance of the findings in this study that the racial gap in callbacks widens when the quality of resumes increases?
“Racism in Toyland,” Christine L. Williams
Essay and Discussion Questions:
How does racial inequality influence our shopping, according to Williams?
Why did malls in Austin, Texas oppose public bus service?
Discuss the ways that racial hostility is shown by stores.
How do hiring practices contribute to racial inequality and injustice?
Discuss the author’s claim that her purchase supported a store organized around racial
exclusion, gender segregation and class distinction. Now consider a purchase you have recently made. What kind of store did you support? What are the alternatives to supporting stores organized like the one where Williams made her purchase?
“Gender Matters. So Do Race and Class: Experiences of Gendered Racism on the Wal-Mart Shop Floor,” Sandra E. Weissinger
Essay and Discussion Questions:
What does Weissenger mean when she refers to “insiders who hold beliefs that make them outsiders?”
What is it that “insiders who hold beliefs that make them outsiders” fail to do that leads to the punishments they endure at Wal-Mart, according to Weissenger?
Discuss “how the multiple features of each plaintiff’s biography influence and shape the stories they tell about work life at Wal-Mart.”
Discuss the ways joking is used to express dominance in the workplace.
Why does Weissenger believe that biological sex differences alone fail to explain the range of plaintiff’s experiences?
