Gender Cultures Across Labor Markets in the United States

• In Event: 4284 - Section on Sociology of Sex and Gender Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 05. Gender and the Labor Market

Abstract

Previous research has proposed three frameworks for understanding the cultural elements of gender across local contexts. First, A unidimensional framework argues that local cultures range from gender traditional to egalitarian. A second approach differentiates between the public sphere of work and the private sphere of family, suggesting that attitudes and behaviors differ between these two social realms. A third theory proposes that culture contains a vertical dimension which privileges men’s access to power/resources, and a horizontal dimension that maintains the separation of women and men. While not covered in previous research, a fourth cultural model is proposed that conceptualizes vertical and horizontal elements taking place separately in the public and private sphere. In this study, I use latent modelling techniques to empirically compare these four frameworks and determine their strengths and limitations for spatial-cultural analysis of gender. Results support an integrated multilevel model of culture, where a unidimensional approach can be broken down into public/private spheres that may be further divided between vertical and horizontal elements within each sphere. This integrated approach accounts for the strengths and weaknesses of different cultural frameworks – with the unidimensional framework being ideal for parsimony and interpretability, while detailed cultural models provide more comprehensive approaches for describing local cultural conditions.

Author

• William Joslyn Scarborough, University of Illinois at Chicago