Organizations, Managers, and Wage Inequality

Lips (2012) has offered a useful critique of the human capital approach to understanding the wage gap. In this essay, rather than offering ways to fix human capital theory, I direct readers away from supply-side accounts of wage determination, by reviewing theory and U.S.-based research on the organizational bases of wage inequality and other forms of workplace stratification. Specifically, I concentrate on one growing line of empirical investigation – the effect of women in powerful organizational positions – arguing that evidence of women managers being agents of change is growing, but additional research and data collection efforts are needed. I conclude by arguing that further research on workplace stratification should focus on the pivotal role of managers.