abstract: 'Sociologists'' principal contribution to our understanding of ascriptive

  inequality has been to document race and sex disparities. We have made

  little headway, however, in explaining these disparities because most

  research has sought to explain variation across ascriptive groups in

  more or less desirable outcomes in terms of allocators'' motives. This

  approach has been inconclusive because motive-based theories cannot be

  empirically tested. Our reliance on individual-level data and the

  balkanization of research on ascriptive inequality into separate

  specialties for groups defined by different ascriptive characteristics

  have contributed to our explanatory stalemate. Explanation requires

  including mechanisms in our models-the specific processes that link

  groups'' ascribed characteristics to variable outcomes such as earnings.

  I discuss mechanisms that contribute to variation in ascriptive

  inequality at four levels of analysis-intrapsychic, interpersonal,

  societal, and organizational. Redirecting our attention from motives to

  mechanisms is essential for understanding inequality and-equally

  important-for contributing meaningfully to social policies that will

  promote social equality.'
affiliation: 'Reskin, BF (Corresponding Author), Univ Washington, Dept Sociol, Seattle,
  WA 98195 USA.

  Univ Washington, Dept Sociol, Seattle, WA 98195 USA.'
author: Reskin, BF
author-email: reskin@u.washington.edu
author_list:
- family: Reskin
  given: BF
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.2307/3088900
eissn: 1939-8271
files: []
issn: 0003-1224
journal: AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW
keywords-plus: 'EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION LITIGATION; RACIAL WAGE INEQUALITY;

  LABOR-MARKET; BLACK-WHITE; METROPOLITAN-AREAS; GENDER INEQUALITY;

  COGNITIVE SKILL; SEX COMPOSITION; CIVIL-SERVICE; RACE'
language: English
month: FEB
number: '1'
number-of-cited-references: '129'
pages: 1-21
papis_id: d63a135a863c2382a8c4a348f379fd5e
ref: Reskin2003includingmechanisms
tags:
- relevant
- review
times-cited: '334'
title: Including mechanisms in our models of ascriptive inequality
type: Review
unique-id: WOS:000222055600001
usage-count-last-180-days: '2'
usage-count-since-2013: '74'
volume: '68'
web-of-science-categories: Sociology
year: '2003'