Wage Gap Sociology

The wage gap is the difference in pay, between a man and a woman, for doing the same task. Women earn seventy-five cents for every dollar a man earns. Sociologists, Robert Nelson and William Bridges, analyzed how wage differences are the outcome of “organizational forces,” rather than the free market. This means that the market sets the price for work, leaving gender out of the equation. Economic perspectives say that wage differences come from reasonable employer decisions, rather than being produced outside of an organization. Some people believe that the wage gap is real, and some do not. Both sides have research to back up these theories. Some think that publishing salaries could put an end to the wage gap. A company based in New York City, SumAll, started an internal document that allowed other employees access the information of their coworkers. It did not show every detail of the employee’s background information. This document was created by SumAll, and then distributed to other companies around that area. The document lists the salaries of all employees, it also shows an increase in that person’s salary. Employees at SumAll, said this gave workers the confidence needed to ask for higher pay, with a reasonable request. Companies, and their personnel believe that knowing the salaries of

A lot of important factors are not shown in the document, including, personal skills, previous experience, and salary history. If someone were to see a co-worker, with the same job as himself, with a larger salary, it could upset that person. Even if that employee were to have had much more experience, with skills that are beneficial to that company, a problem could still arise because the others are unaware of the different factors that went into giving that person that particular pay. Studies at Cornell University, say that a person earning less is more likely to quit, rather than negotiate his or her