Search Results
Title: The Unequal Weight of Discrimination: Gender, Body Size, and Income Inequality
Resulting in 1 citation.
| 1. |
Mason, Katherine |
|
The Unequal Weight of Discrimination: Gender, Body Size, and Income Inequality Social Problems 59,3 (August 2012): 411-435. Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/sp.2012.59.3.411 Cohort(s): NLSY97 Publisher: University of California Press Keyword(s): Discrimination, Body weight; Gender Differences; Income; Obesity; Weight This article examines the causes of income inequalities between obese and nonobese workers, focusing on how gender interacts with body size to determine the size and duration of those inequalities. Drawing on data from the 1997–2008 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97), I introduce a positive test for discrimination, which provides a methodological advantage over previous research in this area. I then pose two questions: first, is anti-obesity discrimination to blame for income inequalities between obese and nonobese workers? Second, do women and men's experiences of those inequalities differ? The results indicate that very obese men do face one form of discrimination—statistical discrimination—but that they can overcome initial disadvantages with time. In contrast, obese women's income disadvantages persist over time, suggesting the presence of prejudicial discrimination. In combination with previous studies illustrating how fat women are disadvantaged in educational attainment and marriage outcomes—two important means of accessing economic resources—this research shows one mechanism by which weight, particularly in combination with gender, is a major vector of U.S. inequality. |
|
|
Bibliography Citation
Mason, Katherine. "The Unequal Weight of Discrimination: Gender, Body Size, and Income Inequality." Social Problems 59,3 (August 2012): 411-435.
|