Foundations of Sociological Inquiry

Enumerating Inequality

Today’s Objectives Discuss Enumerating Inequality What is the Research Question What Methods Were Used How Does it Relate to What We Think We Know

about Inequality? Questions?

Who Wrote “Enumerating Inequality: The Constitution, the Census Bureau, and the Criminal Justice System”?

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97%1. Ralph Ellison

2. Becky Pettit

3. Bruce Western

4. Katherine Beckett

What was the research objective in “Enumerating Inequality”?

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86%

1. To illustrate the growing salience of incarceration in the lives of low-skill African American men.

2. To detail how inmates became invisible, document their number and distribution, and discuss the consequence of their exclusion for accounts of American inequality.

3. To examine how the criminal justice system generates inequality.

4. To compare how censuses are taken in the U.S. and other advanced industrialized nations.

What was the primary hypothesis in “Enumerating Inequality”?

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1. Incarceration has become a distinct life cycle stage among young, African American, men

2. Surveys that draw their samples from people living in households are not representative of the U.S. population

3. The Census fails to count the most disadvantaged segments of the U.S. population

4. The growth in incarceration has consequence for the study of American inequality

What methods did Pettit use to study the consequences of incarceration for the study of American inequality?

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4%9%

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87%1. ethnography

2. analysis of secondary data

3. a laboratory experiment

4. an audit study

According to Pettit, why does sample selection associated with incarceration generate biased estimates of inequality?

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1. Inmates are disproportionately black

2. Inmates are disproportionately male

3. Inmates are disproportionately poorly educated

4. All of the above

A review study History of enumeration

For representation and resource allocation

A review study History of enumeration

For representation and resource allocation

History of survey research For resource planning and distribution For sociological understanding of the population

A review study History of enumeration

For representation and resource allocation

History of survey research For resource planning and distribution For sociological understanding of the population

Documenting the rise of the prison population 2.3 million people; concentrated among young, black men with low

levels of education

A review study History of enumeration

For representation and resource allocation

History of survey research For resource planning and distribution For sociological understanding of the population

Documenting the rise of the prison population 2.3 million people; concentrated among young, black men with low

levels of education

Estimating the effects of sample exclusion employment, wages politics health

How Does “Enumerating Inequality” Relate to What We Think We Know About Inequality?

How Does “Enumerating Inequality” Relate to What We Think We Know About Inequality?

Methodological Employs secondary data (historical and survey) to consider

how growth in incarceration may generate sample selection bias Compiles data from a wide variety of sources to make inmates

visible Finds that inmates differ in important ways from those living

in households Estimates of the relative economic standing of African American

men are typically overstated; that is, inequality is actually greater than conventional estimates imply

How Does “Enumerating Inequality” Relate to What We Think We Know About Inequality?

Theoretical Provides an epistemological critique of the study of

inequality Like schools, the workplace, and families, the criminal

justice system has become an institution of stratification But its effects are often hidden because inmates (and former

inmates) are socially marginalized and occupy a liminal status

Have you learned something in this class this quarter?

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98%1. Yes

2. No

Questions?