From: gerald_a_levy (gerald_a_levy@MSN.COM)
Date: Wed Oct 15 2003 - 09:06:37 EDT
The following studies concern the rating of college faculty by students based on physical appearance. Some unexplored issues include: a) the extent to which other faculty and management evaluate professors in the hiring and promotion process based on their physical appearance; b) the extent to which in the labour-power market age and physical appearance are perceived to be related; c) the extent to which there are different perceptions in the labour-market and the labor process related to age and beauty based on gender. [e.g. older male faculty might be viewed as looking "distinguished" whereas older women faculty might be perceived as looking "old"]; d) the extent to which these forms of discrimination affect the appearance and behavior of workers [e.g. I have a friend in her 40's who dyes her hair because she believes that if she didn't and her natural gray hair showed, then she wouldn't be granted tenure]; d) the extent to which there is age discrimination across many different branches of production; e) the extent to which there are international variations in this process based on differing cultural understandings. Are there Marxist studies on these topics? Any thoughts? In solidarity, Jerry > SET-Study Suggests Physical Appearance is a Factor > http://chronicle.com/jobs/2003/10/2003101501c.htm > GOOD-LOOKING PROFESSORS consistently outscore less attractive ones on > student evaluations of teaching (SET), a new study finds. > Chronicle of Higher Education; Oct 15, 2003 > --- > http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Hamermesh/Teachingbeauty.pdf > College Teaching: "Beauty in the Classroom: Professors' Pulchritude and > Putative Pedagogical Productivity," July 2003 > Daniel S. Hamermesh and Amy M. Parker. > ABSTRACT: Adjusted for many other determinants, beauty affects earnings; > but does it lead directly to the differences in productivity that we > believe generate earnings differences? We take a large sample of student > instructional ratings for a group of university professors, acquire six > independent measures of their beauty and a number of other descriptors > of them and their classes. Instructors who are viewed as better looking > receive higher instructional ratings, with the impact of a move from the > 10th to the 90th percentile of beauty being substantial. This impact > exists within university departments and even within particular courses, > and is larger for male than for female instructors. Disentangling > whether this outcome represents productivity or discrimination is, as > with the issue generally, probably impossible. > --- > http://www.utexas.edu/opa/news/03newsreleases/nr_200307/nr_economics030715.h tml > Physical appearance may influence faculty teaching evaluations, study > says. July 15, 2003
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Thu Oct 16 2003 - 00:00:00 EDT