Economic Inclusion, Identity Group Stratification and Political Economy (I)
Paper Session
Friday, Jan. 6, 2023 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM (CST)
- Chair: Iris Buder, Idaho State University
Understanding Social Stratification: The Case of Energy Injustice
Abstract
The continuous restructuring of energy systems, around the world, has generated widespread inequities across the energy continuum. These inequities have stimulated a rapidly burgeoning ‘energy justice’ discourse. The analytical lens of this discourse has, we contend, been limited, and thus led to proposed solutions framed around presuppositions that energy justice is only achievable through actions of the state that further embed the private (economic) spheres of power in our societies. In this paper, we explore the social stratification of energy injustice—using the lens of stratification economics advanced by Darity (2005) and Davis (2019), informed by Fraser’s (2008) theorising of social injustices—that leads us to conclude that other ‘mechanisms’ are required to achieve a transition to, and actualise, solutions to energy injustices that do not replicate the contemporary neoliberal model privileging the private sphere. These mechanisms include the notion of economic democracy that applies social justice principles (equity, fairness, equality) to enable the participation of individuals, households, and communities in economic decision-making processes about energy production, distribution, consumption, and regulation.Returning to the (Ricardian) Land: Housing Policy as a Source of Economic Stratification
Abstract
Decades of stagnant, household incomes along with rising home values and rents have primed the conditions for the current, affordable housing crisis. Even before the onset of COVID-19, nearly half of renters experience housing cost burden as their housing costs exceed thirty percent of their gross income. Many pay rents that exceed fifty percent of their income. Truly understanding the drivers of this crisis requires an investigation of the political economy of Ricardian land rents; yet this concept is largely ignored by the neo-classical orthodoxy. This paper summarizes how the classical view of land’s unique circumstances became ignored and ultimately replaced by what would become the neo-classical tradition. At this same time, Economics departments were emerging in major universities across the country, often funded by wealthy landholders. Under the neo-classical tradition, Ricardian land became merged with natural resources and simply viewed as another form of capital. Reprising the Ricardian view of land is crucial to understanding our current affordable housing crises. It illustrates how are current housing policies, particularly those that foster homeownership, directly undermine housing affordability. In this way, it reveals another mechanism through which economic stratification operates in our economy. Lastly, this perspective can provide an elegant model that explains why some neighborhoods experience gentrification while others continually suffer disinvestment. This perspective calls for the replacement of local property taxes with those that target land values. This requires assessment techniques that avoid the current practice of over assessing property in less advantaged neighborhoods.Inequalities beyond the Average Man: A Role for Identity-Based Stratification Mechanisms in Economic Performance
Abstract
Investigating gaps and inequalities of our day without the concept of identity is a one-size fits all approach that cannot-fit-all. What this one size fits is only the average man. The issue of identity has long been seen as a niche in economics, but current social, political, and scientific movements are challenging the normality of the average man to free people’s identities from being defined only in terms of their deviation from it. Identity beyond the average man matters: who people are and how they are seen, labeled, and consequently treated matter to explain the structural inequality gaps of our day. Moreover, these gaps require a structural role in economic performance measures that goes beyond a simple inequality correction or adjustment. This paper uses Stratification Economics to open the black boxes of the inequality gaps, identities, and the mechanisms that produce and reproduce a structural relationship between them. Presenting various identity-based stratification mechanisms that operate in markets and policy, it proposes to rethink the role of inequality measures in economic performance indicators.Is There a Labor Market Rank Premium? Quantifying the Racial Gap in Occupational Prestige
Abstract
Utilizing data from the American Community Survey (ACS) for years 2017-2019, this study seeks to quantify the occupational prestige gap present in our society. Studying disparities surrounding occupational prestige by race/ethnicity and gender have helped shape our studying overall labor market disparities. However, another critical aspect to study is the magnitude of said differences. The authors show that when analyzing the wage gap by race/ethnicity, differentials in occupational prestige score rankings account for approximately 25% of wage differentials for Black non-Hispanics (NHs), 20% for Hispanics, 16% for American Indian/Alaskan Native NHs, and 48% for Asian NHs, compared to their White male counterparts. While occupational prestige differences are present among women, the magnitude of this effect is much smaller; compared to White NH men, occupational prestige differences account for 6% of the wage differential observed among White women, 7% among Black women, 9% among Hispanic women, 6% among AIAN women, and 11% among Asian women. This study shows that a significant portion of the observed wage gap is directly attributed to prestige differentials. Quantifying this gap helps illuminate the degree to which social stratification by occupational prestige/status translates into labor market inequities.JEL Classifications
- Z1 - Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology
- P1 - Capitalist Systems