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Major
Psychology
Anticipated Graduation Year
2023
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
Despite numerous, though unequal, legal, political, and social transformations since the 1960s, gender inequalities stubbornly persist in the United States. Economics, sociology, and social psychology have provided various theories to explain this persistence, from theories of discrimination, attitudes, and human capital to theories of political economy, law, and organizations, all of which have distinct implications for solving the problem. Why do these disciplines disagree on what explains the persistence of gender inequality in the U.S., and how has each shaped social and political responses to it? Textual and historical qualitative and historical analyses of archival and media documents will allow for a historical comparison of the three disciplines and their primary approaches to explaining gender inequality over the last sixty years. The comparative analysis will also investigate how and why certain disciplines might find more institutional and political support than others. Understanding how disciplines differently discuss gender inequality will advance various explanations of how “social problems” are scientifically constructed. Additionally, by analyzing the political impacts of social science on social policy, the study will illuminate new pathways to gender equality going forward, directly contributing to the advancement of social and gender justice.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Dr. Savina Balasubramanian, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology
Streaming Media
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Debating Gender Inequality in the American Social Sciences: Political and Institutional Explanations (1960-2020)
Despite numerous, though unequal, legal, political, and social transformations since the 1960s, gender inequalities stubbornly persist in the United States. Economics, sociology, and social psychology have provided various theories to explain this persistence, from theories of discrimination, attitudes, and human capital to theories of political economy, law, and organizations, all of which have distinct implications for solving the problem. Why do these disciplines disagree on what explains the persistence of gender inequality in the U.S., and how has each shaped social and political responses to it? Textual and historical qualitative and historical analyses of archival and media documents will allow for a historical comparison of the three disciplines and their primary approaches to explaining gender inequality over the last sixty years. The comparative analysis will also investigate how and why certain disciplines might find more institutional and political support than others. Understanding how disciplines differently discuss gender inequality will advance various explanations of how “social problems” are scientifically constructed. Additionally, by analyzing the political impacts of social science on social policy, the study will illuminate new pathways to gender equality going forward, directly contributing to the advancement of social and gender justice.