Abstract
Learning objectives for Sociology of Work courses often require that students evaluate the influences of gender, race, class and sexuality in the structuring of the rewards of work. College students have limited capacities to identify the structural sources of inequalities and tend to assume social equity can be achieved through efforts to increase human capital. In this chapter we discuss ways to address these challenges through active learning techniques that increase student awareness of the pay gap as a social problem and promote critical thinking that can lead to social change. We offer a teaching strategy that moves students through theory, data and dissemination. Our goal is that students not only come to understand the sociology of the pay gap but also gain the skills and tools to combat inequalities in the workplace.
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Notes
- 1.
The authors would like to thank Tracy Ore and Sociologists for Women in Society for developing and sharing the original Fact Sheet Activity.
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Anderson, C.D., Faust, K. (2016). Women and Work: Teaching the Pay Gap. In: Haltinner, K., Pilgeram, R. (eds) Teaching Gender and Sex in Contemporary America. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30364-2_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30364-2_11
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