Female Labor Force Participation and the Organizational Experiences of Male Workers*

Using a sample of 387 male federal employees who responded to a questionnaire, this study tests two theoretical perspectives concerning the effect of women's labor force participation on men's work experiences. One theory, with roots in the external-conflict/intenial-cohesion and minority-group size/discrimination literature, predicts that the greater the representation of women in work groups, the greater the social solidarity among male workers and the less the social support for males from female coworkers. A second theory, derived primarily from Blau's exploration into the quantitative properties of social structure, suggests that the higher the proportional representation of females, the lower of social solidarity among male workers and the greater the social support for males from female coworkers. The findings support the latter, not the former, theoretical perspective.     

The Effects of ROTC Program Participation on Socioeconomic Status and Life Satisfaction*

Using mail survey data based on a stratified systematic sample [N = 686] of 1983–1988 graduates of a medium-sized state university, this research evaluates whether ROTC program participation constitutes an independent source of human capital in civilian labor markets by comparing postgraduate earnings (annual income), prestige and authority, and life satisfaction of ROTC program participants with those of nonparticipants. The results revealed no statistically significant ROTC program participation effects, independent of subsequent military status. ROTC program participation paid off in terms of occupational prestige and authority for those on active duty, but not for those in national guard or reserve units. Neither ROTC participation nor current military status affected income or life satisfaction levels.     

Farm Wives' Labor Force Participation and Earnings

Abstract The decisions of farm wives to work off the farm and the earnings they make in that off-farm employment should be considered simultaneously. Previous studies of wives' off-farm earnings have included only employed wives in their analyses of the factors affecting earnings, which results in biased estimates. This study tests, via Tobit analysis, a model which includes all farm wives and examines the effects of wives' human capital, farm and family constraints, and labor market characteristics on both their off-farm employment decisions and their earnings. Wives' off-farm earnings are found to be related to wives' education, labor market experience, presence of children, other family income, farm size, and debt/income ratio. Changes in these factors have a greater influence on the labor market participation decisions of farm wives than on the variation in their earnings, once employed.     

Socioeconomic Status and Early Adolescent Self-Esteem*

This study is a replication of a recent assessment of the relationship between social class and self-esteem, and the variables that intervene on this relationship. The purpose is to replicate the methods used to explore further this relationship by attempting to replicate the findings reported by Demo and Savin-Williams (1983) in another population. Only one of the four hypotheses tested received support thereby indirectly supporting the null relationship theory of no relationship between socioeconomic status and self-esteem. Implications of the findings also are addressed.     

Socioeconomic Status and Mental Illness in Japan*

Abstract Since the pioneering work of Faris and Dunham (1938), a number of studies in the United States have documented an inverse association between socioeconomic status (SES) and mental illness both at the aggregate and the individual levels, and both for the treated and the general population. However, there are few studies of whether this relationship holds in other countries. This study examines socioeconomic characteristics and mental illness in Japan, which has a very different social stratification system from that of the United States. It was found that, at the aggregate level, the “inverse” association between socioeconomic characteristics and the rate of treated mental illness does not hold in Japan. Instead, the relationship is curvilinear: mental illness is higher in districts with large numbers of blue collar and upper white collar workers than in districts with large numbers of lower white collar workers. The effect of SES on mental illness operates through economic stress embedded in the macro social context. Because different social structures lead to different patterns of economic stress, the inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and mental health cannot be assumed to hold in all countries.     

Female Labor Force Participation in Urban and Rural China1

Abstract The objective of this study is to examine female labor force participation and its determinants in rural and urban China. The sociological literature has demonstrated that participation tends to increase in urban and industrialized places where women have higher levels of education and fewer children, where more workers are engaged in service pursuits, and where family structure is less traditional. With the use of data on counties and cities (N = 2,377) from the I-percent sample of the 1982 census of the People's Republic of China, it was found that female labor force participation is likely to rise in areas with increased agricultural employment, educational levels, proportion of female-headed households, and higher male-to-female sex ratios. Both the size of the service sector and the fertility rate had negligible effects on female labor force participation. Although, on average, rural places have slightly higher levels of female labor force participation, when other variables are controlled, urban places have a higher rate of female participation. In addition, the findings suggest that market factors (i.e., education) are more likely to determine the rate of female labor force participation in urban areas; whereas demographic and social factors (i.e., sex ratio and household structure) play a more important role in explaining the female labor force participation in rural counties.     

Childhood Predictors of Labor Force Participation in Adult Life

This study used longitudinal data from the National Child Development Study in the United Kingdom to investigate childhood predictors of labor force participation outcome (unemployed versus employed or self-employed) at age 33. In women, only general ability at age 11 was related to labor force participation at age 33, whereas in men labor force participation was negatively related to sibship size and domestic tension in childhood and psychological distress in adult life, and was positively related to presence of a partner in adult life, academic motivation in adolescence and educational attainment.     

Role of Socioeconomic Status and Political Participation in Construction of Apathy Among Youth

Youth are considered an important segment of a country’s population. This article explores the effect of socioeconomic status on apathy among youth. It also tries to determine the association between apathy and political participation. Data were collected from four universities through a self-structured questionnaire given to students. A field survey was used to collect 882 questionnaires. Data were entered in SPSS, and data analysis was done by using ordinal regression analysis. A medium level of apathy (75.5%) and political participation (46.0%) was prevalent among educated youth. Results revealed a significant effect of number of siblings, age, gender, education, father’s education, and mother’s education on apathy. An association was also found between apathy and political participation.     

Recent Evidence on Factors Influencing the Female Labor Force Participation Rate

This study seeks, using state-level data, to identify key factors that help to explain recent trends of labor force participation among women. Adult females are treated as attempting to maximize utility subject to a variety of budgetary and non-budgetary constraints. Among the findings obtained is a positive impact from the level of public assistance, i.e., the greater the extent of public assistance to adult females in the forms of Supplemental Security Income, Food Stamps, and so forth, the higher the female labor force participation rate (FLFPR). Other factors contributing to observed FLFPRs include age, the presence of young children, family income, educational attainment and disability status. In addition, we also find evidence that an increase in the proportion of the population that is non-native to the U.S. has a negative effect on the FLFPR.

Social Participation,Social Status and Extremist Political Attitudes*

Two measures of extremist political attitudes are used to test the relationship between social participation, social status, and extremist attitudes. The expected relationships are found only for a measure called “support for democratic institutions.” Another measure of political attitudes, vigilantism, was found not to relate to the independent variables. We conclude that people who may adhere to abstract democratic ideals, at the same time may not reject the use of extralegal force to further their political goals. The findings also suggest that the “mobilization function” of social participation will need to be further specified.     

Male Entry into the Labor Force: Estimates of Occupational Rewards and Labor Market Discrimination*

Causal models of initial occupational rewards for black and white males are developed from the responses of first-year workers in the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience. A comparison of the black and white models shows that while blacks have experienced considerable upward mobility, their income and prestige remain far behind their white counterparts. Two explanations for this racial gap are indicated by the data: (1) blacks begin work with lower levels of key background variables, and (2) racial discrimination in the labor market. Our measurement of racial discrimination in labor market entry accounts for only a small proportion of the gap between black and white levels of rewards; and when compared with earlier research, the data indicate a national trend of decreasing racial discrimination in the labor market.     

La Familia - How Trust Towards Family Decreases Female Labor Force Participation

This paper investigates whether comprehensive trust towards immediate family members leads to a decrease in female labor force participation in Sub Saharan African countries. Using three recent waves, third, fourth and fifth rounds of the Afrobarometer survey data allows us to capture the willingness to participate in the labor market as well as the level of trust individuals have towards their family members. We find that a high amount of trust significantly decreases labor force participation vary in range from minimum of 7 percent to 13 percent at maximum in our probit estimations. Moreover, the statistical as well as economic effects are significantly stronger for females than the effect for males. Our main contribution to the emerging economies literature in informal institutions is that we are able to show how different cultural traits such as family ties lead to different choices in terms of participation in the labor market.     

Labor Force Participation,Regional Location,and Economic Well-Being of Single Mothers in Russia

This paper tests the contribution of increased labor market participation to a substantial narrowing of the gap in material welfare between two parent and single mother households in Russia in the period 1996–2003. Decomposition analysis employing the technique of Juhn et al. (Accounting for a slowdown in black–white wage convergence, Kosters (ed), 1991) and data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey shows that increased labor market participation explains about one-third of the narrowing of the welfare gap. Changes in the regional distribution of single mother households, specifically increasing concentration in Moscow and St Petersburg, have proved critical because of the higher wages available in these cities. Thus quality of employment has been as important as increased participation in the labor market.     

Elite Colleges and Socioeconomic Status

Elite colleges have long been associated with socioeconomic reproduction, passing along elite social standing to children of middle and upper‐middle socioeconomic status (SES) parents. How has that role changed during the expansion of American higher education over the past 50 years? Have elite colleges and universities also become providers of socioeconomic mobility? In this essay, I outline recent demographic, admissions, and financial aid changes at these institutions and compare both in‐college experiences and college outcomes between low‐SES and more‐affluent students at elite colleges. I argue that although elite colleges and universities do include greater numbers of low‐SES students than in earlier generations and have great potential for even further inclusion, they remain far from serving as broad engines of socioeconomic mobility.     

Work Incentive and Labor Force Participation after the Senior Citizens Freedom to Work Act of 2000

A larger share of individuals 65 and older have been staying in or returning to the labor force since the late 1980s. Because Social Security was changed from providing incentives for earlier withdrawal from the labor force to providing incentives to remain in the labor market longer, we can expect to find a relationship between the Retirement Earnings Test removal and labor force participation. The findings have implications for welfare policy such that they can increase the portion of older adults who work.     

Labor Market Structure and Career Occupational Status Mobility: A Theoretical Model*

Sociological explanations of career or intragenerational occupational status mobility generally have not taken into explicit account the effects of labor market structure. Rooted in structural-functionalist sociological theory or neoclassical economic theories of the labor market, models typically misrepresent the process of individual occupational status mobility, primarily by including only individual characteristics. Dual labor market theory is introduced, direct as well as indirect effects of labor market structure on career occupational status mobility are outlined, and a theoretical model is presented. It is hypothesized that labor market structure will have direct effects on opportunities for career occupational status mobility that are independent of the effects of individual characteristics. Additional indirect effects are suggested: through their effects on social network structures, labor markets operate as job opportunity information filters.     

Religion,Socioeconomic Status,and Sexual Morality: An Application of Reference Group Theory*

Reference group theory is used to help resolve an anomaly: the relationships among religiosity, socioeconomic status, and sexual morality. Past research has shown that while SES and religiosity are positively related to each other, SES is related to liberal sexual attitudes and religiosity is related to conservative sexual attitudes. SES and religiosity are therefore working at cross-purposes and represent competing frames of reference for some persons. Specifications of reference group theory helps to pinpoint the conditions under which particular choices are made. The 1972–78 NORC data set is used to test specific propositions extrapolated from Robert Merton's analysis of reference groups. The findings show that religious group involvement has greater impact than SES collectivity. The influence of religiosity is, however, dependent upon a conservative milieu. For generally liberal denominations, there is less necessity for a choice between the competing reference points; thus, neither religion nor SES overwhelms the other. These results and reference group theory suggest areas for future investigation.     

Individual and Familial Determinants of Married Arab Israeli Women's Labor Force Participation: Trends of Change and Stability

Although the Arab population in Israel has undergone important economic and social changes in the past decades, the labor force participation of Arab women, particularly married women, has remained limited. This study uses census data to learn about the individual and familial factors associated with the entry into paid work of married Arab women and examines the extent to which these factors have changed over time. A major advantage is that the study distinguishes between the Muslim, Christian, and Druze populations, who markedly differ in their demographic, social, and cultural characteristics. Results from logistic regression models and standardization analyses reveal that the growth in employment experienced by Arab women was associated with the increasing education of both wives and husbands. However, the returns to education significantly decreased over time, particularly among Druze women, suggesting it has become more difficult for highly educated women to find employment. Results further show that the growth in employment experienced by Muslim and Christian women was related both to a decline in fertility and to a decrease in the negative returns to having children. Overall, findings underscore the structural barriers that limit Arab Israeli women's employment opportunities and raise concerns about their future occupational prospects.