ABSTRACT
The foregoing arguments, and others like them, are well known, but they often fail to be convincing. Part of the reason such arguments fail to persuade is that they seem too general and theoretical. Somehow everyone seems to know that in the real world corporations are discriminatory, and statistics are presented about particular corporations to prove discriminatory practices. Single women in their thirties who have worked continuously since high school actually earn higher salaries than their white male counterparts. Married women often interrupt their careers and then re-enter the labor force. Moreover, some ethnic groups tend to marry earlier than others. This affects educational opportunities and consistent employment which in turn affects wages. The criteria suggest that income differentials can be attributed to factors other than racial or sexual discrimination—a point that confirms on a social level what Hoffman and Reed found at a “micro” level.
