Bear Beginnings: Faculty Spotlight with Prof. Jake Rosenfeld
As a part of the broader Bear Beginnings programming, the WashU Department of Sociology invites first-year and transfer student to attend our Faculty Spotlight session, featuring Prof. Jake Rosenfeld. His presentation, "Talking About Pay: Who Does It, Why So Many Are Embarrassed By It, and Why Your Boss Hates It" will provide a foundational overview of what pay inequality is, how it manifests, why it is a problem, and how the field of sociology seeks to measure, explain, and ameliorate it. We strongly encourage students who are interested in economics, political science, social work, business and finance, community organization and advocacy, law, public health, social justice and activism, critical thinking and social theory, and civic engagement to attend this presentation. If you don't know what sociology is and what it is all about, this is a fantastic, low-stakes opportunity to learn - even before the semester starts. So many of our students wish that they had discovered sociology earlier in their college careers... Get a head start through this Faculty Spotlight presentation!
Prof. Jake Rosenfeld's research and teaching focus on the political and economic determinants of inequality in the United States and other advanced democracies. He is primarily interested in the determinants of wages and salaries, and how these vary across time and place. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University. Prof. Rosenfeld's 2014 book What Unions No Longer Do (Harvard University Press) shows in detail the consequences of labor’s decline: curtailed advocacy for better working conditions, weakened support for immigrants’ economic assimilation, and ineffectiveness in addressing wage stagnation among African-Americans. His most recent book, You're Paid What You’re Worth and Other Myths of the Modern Economy (Harvard University Press, 2021), seeks to answer the basic question: who gets what and why? His work has been featured in the The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Harvard Business Review, and has been published in top academic journals.
We invite all students to participate in our Departmental Open House earlier in the day (10:00 a.m. - 11:30 p.m. in Seigle Hall, Suite 213) to preview what's to come in this sure-to-be-engaging presentation!
Students must attend one session from each of the three core disciplines within the College of Arts & Sciences: Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences. This presentation will fulfill the Social Sciences component of the Bear Beginnings Faculty Spotlight requirements.
Questions prior to the event? Or, just want to get a head start in exploring the possibilities that WashU Sociology can present? Check out our website or contact our Academic Coordinator!