Workplace Harassment: Conceptualizations of Older Workers

Drawing from theories and empirical work on gender in the workplace, aging, and sociolegal studies, this study of workplace harassment will assess how the power that older workers hold across a variety of domains including work, family, and community life shapes their harassment experiences and responses to those experiences. The study involves collecting and analyzing survey data on the workplace harassment experiences of 800 Maine workers aged 62 and above. These results will then be used to create a generalized theoretical model which outlines how age and other dimensions of power operate together to shape victimization and mobilization experiences. Four fundamental questions frame the proposed study: 1) What is the content of older workers? harassment experiences?; 2) Within the current social context, which older workers are most likely to become targets of workplace harassment?; 3) How do older workers come to label their experiences with potentially harassing behaviors as harassment and how do they go on to respond?; and 4) What general model of age, power, victimization, and mobilization can be drawn from this study? In addition to bringing together several areas of sociological inquiry to present a unified model of age, power, victimization, and mobilization, this study will provide new information relevant to public policies on harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Given evidence of an aging workforce now is an especially important time to become familiar with the workplace experiences of older adults. Broader Impacts. Study results will be used to develop a larger-scale comparative investigation of workplace harassment over the life cycle. The research will also promote teaching, training, and learning by involving research assistants at both the undergraduate and graduate level, offering them experience with data collection, analysis, writing, and collaboration with local agencies

Doing Good, Being Good, and the Social Construction of Compassion

Activists and volunteers in the United States face the dilemma of having to negotiate the ideals of American individualism with their own acts of compassion. In this article, I consider how activists and volunteers socially construct compassion. Data from ethnographic research in the breast cancer and antirape movements are analyzed. The processes through which compassion is constructed are revealed in participants’ actions and in their identities. It is through their actions (or “doing good”) and their perceptions and presentations of themselves (“being good”) that participants construct compassion as a gendered phenomenon. Together, the processes of doing good and being good raise questions about the extent to which participants’ acts of compassion are or can be transformative in a way that promotes the social change which activists and volunteers seek

Harassment of Older Adults in the Workplace

This chapter reviews research on harassment of older adults in the workplace and highlights results from my recent study of harassment of older workers in Maine. I suggest that the power that older people hold at work, at home, and in their communities shapes their workplace harassment experiences. Based on a survey of nearly 200 Maine workers aged 62 and above, four questions framed the study: (1) What is the content of older workers’ harassment experiences?; (2) Which older workers are most likely to become targets of workplace harassment?; (3) How do older workers respond to potentially harassing behaviors?; and (4) What do older workers have to say about their workplace experiences? I find that workplace isolation is one of the most common harassment experiences among older workers, that gender differences are less prominent than anticipated, and that many older workers remain silent about their harassment experiences. I conclude by considering what these findings suggest about improving older people’s workplace experiences

Gender Roles and Society

Gender roles are based on the different expectations that individuals, groups, and societies have of individuals based on their sex and based on each society\u27s values and beliefs about gender. Gender roles are the product of the interactions between individuals and their environments, and they give individuals cues about what sort of behavior is believed to be appropriate for what sex. Appropriate gender roles are defined according to a society\u27s beliefs about differences between the sexes

S1E5: What does choosing to be child-free mean for individuals and our society?

In this episode we’ll delve into what is perhaps the most personal and profound decision an individual, a couple, or a family can make… The choice on whether to have children or not. It is a decision that is life changing on a personal level, but it also ripples out into communities and into our politics, immigration, tax issues, workforce development among other areas

Choosing to be Childfree: Research on the Decision Not to Parent

Decisions about whether to have or rear children, as well as perceptions of people who choose not to parent are linked to a variety of social processes and identities. We review literature from a variety of disciplines that focuses on voluntarily childless adults. Early research in this area, emerging in the 1970s, focused almost exclusively on heterosexual women and utilized a childless rather than a childfree framework. Later work saw a shift to a “childless-by-choice” or “childfree” framework, emphasizing that for some, not being parents is an active choice rather than an accident. While more recent research includes lesbian women and gay and heterosexual men, greater diversity within studies of adults without children is one suggested focus for future work in this area

Putting in your time : Faculty Experiences in the Process of Promotion to Professor

The rank of professor or “full” professor represents the highest status possible for faculty members, and it is generally gained by attaining professional expertise and a national or international reputation. Beyond this, however, little is known about these individuals or the promotion process at this level. In this qualitative study of 10 faculty members at one research university in the United States, we sought to understand the experiences of individuals who had sought promotion to full professor. Through a socialization lens, we found that issues of time, a lack of clarity, and gender disparity were concerns for these faculty members

Choosing to be Childfree: Research on the Decision Not to Parent

Decisions about whether to have or rear children, as well as perceptions of people who choose not to parent are linked to a variety of social processes and identities. We review literature from a variety of disciplines that focuses on voluntarily childless adults. Early research in this area, emerging in the 1970s, focused almost exclusively on heterosexual women and utilized a childless rather than a childfree framework. Later work saw a shift to a “childless-by-choice” or “childfree” framework, emphasizing that for some, not being parents is an active choice rather than an accident. While more recent research includes lesbian women and gay and heterosexual men, greater diversity within studies of adults without children is one suggested focus for future work in this area

Faculty Agency in Applying for Promotion to Professor

Aim/Purpose: In the United States, faculty who wish to pursue promotion to the rank of professor do so without clear guidance or structure. Even the timing of such a process is nebulous. As such, an individual engages in magentic action to pursue the rank. Background: This study examined the experiences of faculty members who chose to pursue the application process to be promoted to professor but were rejected or dissuaded. Methodology: Utilizing a case study of one institutional setting, we conducted 10 in-depth qualitative interviews. Contribution: Very little is known about the process of promotion to full professor in the U.S. and even less empirical research exists. This study advances knowledge of the process and the experiences of those undertaking it. Findings: We learned that cues from the social context greatly influenced these faculty members’ sense of agency. Keywords: promotion, faculty rank, agenc

Social Class Differences in Workplace Harassment during the Transition to Adulthood

Young disadvantaged workers are especially vulnerable to harassment due to their age and social class position. As young people enter the workforce, their experiences of, and reactions to, harassment may vary dramatically from those of older adult workers. Three case studies introduce theory and research on the relationship between social class and harassment of young workers. We suggest two mechanisms through which class may structure harassment experiences: (1) extremely vulnerable youth are directly targeted based on their social class origins, and (2) the type and condition of youth employment, which is structured by class background, indirectly affect experiences of harassment