Discrimination

Abstract Discrimination is unfair and, in most societies, illegal. It is important to combat discrimination, and this chapter describes how social scientists think about discrimination, with a specific focus on labor market discrimination. The authors discuss different definitions of discrimination before presenting the three main theories, or models, of why employers might discriminate against job applicants. These models at the outset may be seen as different, yet the authors argue they are more similar than usually thought. Employers’ decision-making process is influenced by a range of contextual factors, and the chapter discusses meso and macro factors that might matter for where discrimination is likely to occur. The chapter also includes a section on how discrimination can be measured and a summary of some of the most important experimental evidence on discrimination related to race/ethnicity and gender.