Measuring Racial Discrimination

Many racial and ethnic groups in the United States, including blacks, Hispanics, Asians, American Indians, and others, have historically faced severe discrimination—pervasive and open denial of civil, social, political, educational, and economic opportunities. Today, large differences among racial and ethnic groups continue to exist in employment, income and wealth, housing, education, criminal justice, health, and other areas. While many factors may contribute to such differences, their size and extent suggest that various forms of discriminatory treatment persist in U.S. society and serve to undercut the achievement of equal opportunity.

Measuring Racial Discrimination considers the definition of race and racial discrimination, reviews the existing techniques used to measure racial discrimination, and identifies new tools and areas for future research. The book conducts a thorough evaluation of current methodologies for a wide range of circumstances in which racial discrimination may occur, and makes recommendations on how to better assess the presence and effects of discrimination.

Table of Contents

• Front Matter
• Executive Summary
• 1 Introduction
• PART 1: CONCEPTS
• 2 Defining Race
• 3 Defining Discrimination
• 4 Theories of Discrimination
• PART II: METHODS
• 5 Causal Inference and the Assessment of Racial Discrimination
• 6 Experimental Methods for Assessing Discrimination
• 7 Statistical Analysis of Observational Data
• 8 Attitudinal and Behavioral Indicators of Discrimination
• 9 An Illustration of Methodological Complexity: Racial Profiling
• PART III: DATA COLLECTION AND RESEARCH
• 10 Measurement of Race by the U.S. Government
• 11 Cumulative Disadvantages and Racial Discrimination
• 12 Research: Next Steps
• References
• Selected Bibliography
• Appendix A: Workshop Agenda
• Appendix B: Biographical Sketches
• Index
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