Issue of RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences on:

Status: What Is It, and Why Does It Matter for Inequality?

Editors: Cecilia L. Ridgeway (Stanford University) and Hazel Rose Markus (Stanford University)

Status can be defined simply as a comparative social ranking on the basis of esteem, honor, prestige, and respect which creates a form of inequality and hierarchy among those ranked. This simple definition, however, leaves unanswered complex questions about what status really is as a social process and why scholars of inequality should be concerned with it. For instance, what do we make of evidence that concerns about status are often as or more powerful motivators for life decisions than economic incentives? Why is it that threats to status foster conflicts and undermine performance, health and well-being? And why and how does status matter for broader patterns of inequality in society based on valued life outcomes such as wealth, power, and health? The proposed issue grows from the need for a deeper story about what the nature of status inequality is and how it works that will allow us to address such questions.

In this issue, we invite theoretical and empirical papers that seek to enlarge our understanding of the nature and significance of status as a form of inequality and that illuminate the roles status plays in driving, maintaining, or changing inequality in wealth, power, or well-being in contemporary advanced industrial societies. We welcome papers from across the social sciences, including sociology, psychology, organizational behavior, economics, political science, and communications. Papers may employ a variety of methods and data from quantitative to qualitative. We are interested in papers that address any aspect of our general call but that, in particular, deepen our understanding of what status really is as a social process. In the link below we offer a list of questions and issues, organized into broad themes, that such papers might address. This list is suggestive only and is not meant to limit the topics papers might cover.

Please click here for a full description of the topics covered in this call for articles.

Anticipated Timeline

Prospective contributors should submit a CV and an abstract (up to two pages in length, single or double spaced) of their study along with up to two pages of supporting material (e.g., tables, figures, pictures, etc.) no later than 5 PM EST on April 7, 2020, to:

https://rsf.fluxx.io

(NOTE that if you wish to submit an abstract and do not yet have an account with us, it can take up to 48 hours to get credentials, so please start your application at least two days before the deadline.)

All submissions must be original work that has not been previously published in part or in full. Only abstracts submitted to https://rsf.fluxx.io will be considered. Each paper will receive a $1,000 honorarium when the issue is published. All questions regarding this issue should be directed to Suzanne Nichols, Director of Publications, at journal@rsage.org and not to the email addresses of the editors of the issue.

A conference will take place at the Russell Sage Foundation in New York City on February 26, 2021 (with a group dinner the night before). The selected contributors will gather for a one-day workshop to present draft papers (due a month prior to the conference (on 1/26/21) and receive feedback from the other contributors and editors. Travel costs, food, and lodging for one author per paper will be covered by the foundation. Papers will be circulated before the conference. After the conference, the authors will submit their revised drafts by 5/19/21. The papers will then be sent out to three additional scholars for formal peer review. Having received feedback from reviewers and the RSF board, authors will revise their papers by 11/1/21. The full and final issue will be published in the spring of 2022. Papers will be published open access on the RSF website as well as in several digital repositories, including JSTOR and UPCC/Muse.

Please click here for a full description of the topics covered in this call for articles.

Please, see the following the call for papers for the 2020 IAFEP conference, (June 21‐24, 2020, La Jolla, California, United States).

The International Association for the Economics of Participation (IAFEP) gathers scholars dedicated to exploring the economics of democratic and participatory organizations, such as labor‐managed firms, cooperatives and firms with broad‐based employee share‐ownership, profit sharing and worker participation schemes, as well as democratic nonprofit, community and social enterprises. The IAFEP Conferences, which take place every two years, provide an international forum for presentations and discussions of current research on the economics of participation. The 2020 IAFEP Conference will be held in La Jolla (California, United States), alongside and in collaboration with the Beyster Symposium, sponsored by the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing of Rutgers University.

Submissions for the 2020 conference are invited from all relevant fields of study, including comparative economic systems, industrial and labor economics, organizational studies, social economics, management studies, institutional economics, evolutionary economics, development economics, sociology, psychology, political science, law, and philosophy. Interdisciplinary approaches are welcomed. We also invite proposals for complete sessions.

Key themes:

1/ Development and dynamics of financial and decision‐making participation
The range of organizations implementing financial and decision‐making participation is broad and growing, from profit sharing to employee ownership, flat‐organizations, employees on the board, trade‐unions, etc. The drivers of the different types of participation can be very diverse. We are interested in research about the evolution and implications of participation in these organizations in industrialized, post‐industrial, transition, and developing economies.

2/ Effects of participation on firms’ and workers’ outcomes
We invite communications on the impact of workers’ participation on firms’ economic performance, as well as other outcomes – such as wages, working conditions, human resource practices, corporate social responsibility practices, etc. Communications with empirical approaches are particularly encouraged.

3/ Socio‐economic and political environment
The creation, growth and stability of participatory firms are influenced by the economic and social environment as well as the public policies and laws surrounding firms and participation. We welcome communications about the incidence of this broad environment on participation, including historical and international comparative approaches.

4/ Economic participation and political democracy
Participation in firms also raises the question of the relationship between economic participation and political democracy. On one hand, can economic participation affect political involvement of workers‐citizens? On the other hand, is economic participation more likely to thrive in a democratic and more egalitarian environment?

Extended Abstracts (max. 1000 words) in English should be sent by e‐mail to Trevor Young‐Hyman and Nathalie Magne at iafep2020@gmail.com by February 28, 2020. Abstracts should include full details of institutional affiliations and e‐mail addresses. Proposals for complete sessions should include a brief description of the theme of the session and an abstract for each paper.

Authors will be notified by March 31, 2020 whether their papers are accepted for presentation. Complete drafts should reach us by June 1, 2020 in order to be handed out to Conference participants.

Conference Dates
The conference will consist of three full day sessions on June 22, 23 and 24. A welcoming reception will take place on June 21.

Registration and Accommodations
Detailed information on registration (including fees) and local accommodations will be available on the conference website in early February.

Participants from Developing and Transition Economies and Students
A small amount of funding is available for participants from developing and transition economies and students. In order to be considered for the funding, researchers should clarify it in the abstract submission.

Horvat‐Vanek Prize
The Horvat‐Vanek prize is awarded every two years for a research paper of exceptional quality written by a young scholar in one of the areas of interest to IAFEP. The prize, of a value of US$ 1,000, will be awarded during the conference. In order to be considered for the prize, researchers and doctoral students aged 35 or under should submit one research paper in English (maximum length 10,000 words) by April 20, 2020 to iafep2020@gmail.com. Please, include your institutional affiliation and an abstract, and indicate clearly on the paper that you wish it to be considered for the Horvat‐Vanek prize (the recipient will be requested to provide a passport or other official evidence of their date of birth in order to receive the prize).