We identify three implicit wage theories in U.S. debates over the principle of equal pay for equal work: wages as a living , wages as a price , and wages as a social practice . Arguments for wages as a living emphasize that the purpose of the wage is to provide an adequate level of support for...

We examine two key US labor market policies: state-level minimum wages for women from 1912-23 and the federal minimum wage established under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Each of these regulations implicitly defined which groups were and were not expected to conform to the hegemonic male...

Establishment data from New York and Ohio, two U.S. states representing mature versus dynamic industrial sectors, are used to decompose changes in women's employment during economic fluctuations in the 1920s and 1930s. By decomposing changes in women's employment, one can distinguish between...

What happened to the good jobs at casinos? The recession took its toll, insecurity is on the rise, and reforms akin to old-style Taylorism are in vogue. It's a case study of work changes across the United States.

This account of a successful unionization campaign among dealers is based on an ethnographic study-in-progress of workers in Atlantic City's eleven casinos. Deteriorating working conditions that reflect broader political economic trends have contributed to a shift in employees' attitudes toward...

The six previous special issues of the Review are analyzed both as texts that illuminate the concerns of specific historical moments and as part of the ongoing development of feminist political economy. Over the course of these issues, the diversity of women's experiences forms a basis for...

This article explores the relationship between legislated wage floors and the more elusive concept of a living wage. Wages are one way that society has signaled gender and racial identity and constitute an important social practice for shaping gender relations. In the debates over passage of the...

Unpublished data from the CPS were used to compare the rates of change in women's employment and female representation in craft occupations during periods of growth and recession in the 1970s and 1980s. Separate rates of change were computed for white and black women. Contrary to the...

As this comprehensive Companion demonstrates, social economics is a dynamic and growing field that emphasizes the key role that values play in the economy and in economic life. Social economics treats the economy and economics as being embedded in the larger web of social and ethical...