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Institutional integration has long been an important focus in literatures on inequality, education and mobility. Building on this work and drawing from multi-wave survey and records data from a large public university, the analyses we offer in this article provide unique and systematic comparative tests of first- versus continuing-generation inequalities in integration, disaggregated by academic versus social types, and with attention to other potentially influential status attributes. Our findings reveal: (1) clear overall inequalities in campus integration for first-generation students that cut across gender and race/ethnic lines; (2) a higher likelihood of employment among first-generation students-employment that tends to detract from integration opportunities; and (3) especially pronounced inequalities when it comes to forms of academic and social integration that entail bureaucratic- and resource-related barriers. We discuss the implications for understanding inequality and the first-generation experience in higher education and for more general sociological conceptions of institutional integration and mobility., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Age discrimination in employment has received mounting attention over the past two decades, and from various cross-cutting social science disciplines. Findings from survey and experimental analyses have revealed the pervasiveness of ageist stereotypes, while aggregate and life course analyses suggest trends toward downward occupational mobility for ageing workers, especially in the face of economic restructuring and global economic pressures. In this article, we extend the literature by offering explicit theoretical conceptualization of age discrimination in employment--conceptualization that builds on prior social closure perspectives dealing with social stratification, broadly--and then analyzing unique quantitative and qualitative data on verified cases of workplace age discrimination occurring between 1988 and 2003. Our analyses center on 1.) the interactional nature of workplace age discrimination and its relation to status, 2.) how explicit ageist stereotypes both invoke discrimination and help gatekeepers justify such behavior, and 3.) the ways in which supposedly age-neutral ideologies, centering specifically on corporate costs and well-being, may also spur ageist discriminatory treatment. Results reveal vulnerability for skilled and semi-skilled workers, particularly those nearing 50 years old and retirement. Qualitative immersion into a subsample of cases reveals precisely how stereotypes are used, how employers rationalize discrimination by invoking business costs, and how the workers are affected. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings as well as the utility of social closure theory for future research and theorizing on age discrimination and inequality. (Contains 4 figures and 4 notes.)

Whether the public sector continues to offer African Americans an upwardly mobile “occupational niche” is unclear, especially in the face of contemporary reforms that run counter to workplace protections. In this article, and drawing on overtime data from Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we explore this question with a specific focus on the upward mobility of men into white-collar occupations. Findings suggest that the reform period of 2005–2010, characterized by increased employer discretion and an application of a “business model” to public sector work, undermined African American relative to White promotion prospects. What was once greater racial parity in the incidence, determinants, and timing of upward mobility during the pre-reform period (1985–1990) eroded during the reform period (2005–2010). Promotion-centered inequalities in the private sector, in contrast, while high, were more or less constant across the same time period. We conclude by discussing escalating public sector racial disadvantages, the processes undergirding them, and their implications for the likely contraction of the African American middle class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the minority vulnerability thesis, this study assesses whether there are racial differences in the prevalence, determinants, and timing of downward mobility from managerial/executive and professional/technical occupational categories during the critical early career years. Findings from a panel study of income dynamics sample of men support theory: African Americans, compared to Whites, have a greater incidence of downward movement, face a route to downward movement that is less strongly predicted by traditional stratification-based causal factors, and experience mobility quickly. Analyses also reveal that racial gaps in downward mobility along lines enunciated by theory are greater in the private sector than the public sector. Implications of the findings for understanding evolving patterns of racial inequality in privileged occupations are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Most criminological theory is cast at either the macro or micro level. Developmental and integrated theories are an exception as they combine community characteristics such as neighborhood poverty with micro-level processes. What remains lacking, however, is attention to labor market conditions. The authors address this gap by testing a contextual model that links local labor market structure, adolescent attachments, and violent delinquency. Analyses draw from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Our findings suggest that low-wage, service sector employment opportunity directly increases the likelihood of violent delinquency. A small proportion of this effect is mediated by school achievement and attachment. The low-wage service sector effect uncovered remains when important micro-level processes including prior violence are controlled. The authors conclude by discussing the persistent low-wage service sector effect, the intervening processes we do uncover, and implications for future theoretical development and research on local labor markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]