Social Inequality - Publications - Faculty & Research

26 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 26, 2008

very high accuracy. This case describes a growing company struggling with unique challenges as it implements a "social enterprise" business model; it describes the difficulties faced by social entrepreneurs implementing... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

Make clear where we stand and where we aim to go. - Advancing Racial Equity

for HBS itself to attract the most promising talent and have its greatest impact, we cannot tolerate social systems and structures that hold back individuals because of their race. Racism is a direct contradiction to our mission.... View Details

April 1993
Supplement

Prodigy Services Company (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine

Describes the actions taken by Prodigy executives. View Details

Keywords: Communication Intention and Meaning; Conflict Management; Status and Position; Equality and Inequality

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February 2016
Article

Unearned Status Gain: Evidence from a Global Language Mandate

By: Tsedal Neeley and Tracy Dumas

Theories of status rarely address unearned status gain—an unexpected and unsolicited increase in relative standing, prestige, or worth, attained not through individual effort or achievement, but from a shift in organizationally valued characteristics. We build theory... View Details

Keywords: Status and Position; Equality and Inequality; Spoken Communication; Organizations; Japan; United States

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18 Aug 2021
News

Alumni on the Black Lives Matter Movement

Pagliuca (MBA 1982), a managing partner of the Boston Celtics, recently helped create Boston Celtics United for Social Change, a $25 million commitment to support initiatives that address racial injustice and View Details

17 Jun 2020
Blog Post

Black MBA Students Pen Letters to the HBS Community: Letter 2/5

failed justice system. It is a response to unending structural violence and inequity that has infected our economic systems, political institutions, and social structures. It is an uprising against growing... View Details

19 Jan 2022
In Practice

7 Trends to Watch in 2022

accelerating the destruction of the planet. 2022 is a critical juncture: We can continue as is, reproducing the neoliberal economic model, which will result in further inequalities and the destruction of the planet, or we can dare to... View Details

Keywords: by HBS News

15 Apr 2021
News

Bringing Light to the Fight

inequalities in patient care. In 1998, the foundation’s advocacy encouraged the New Zealand government to institute free breast cancer screenings for women ages 50 to 64, later extended to 45 to 69. The foundation is currently working to... View Details

04 Sep 2019
News

Research Brief: Ending the Legacy of Poverty

Scott Duke Kominers (photo by Evgenia Eliseeva) Scott Duke Kominers (photo by Evgenia Eliseeva) Income inequality over multiple generations is not just the result of wealthy families passing down money—it’s how those families spend their... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Myers; Educational Services

11 May 2021
Blog Post

Q+A on the Socioeconomic Inclusion Task Force with Holly Fetter (MBA 2020) and Alexxis Isaac (MBA 2020)

interesting there that has connections with race and racism as well. I'm thinking a lot about the responsibility of a place like HBS to ensure that students from lower income backgrounds are able to experience genuine social mobility—of... View Details

01 Jun 2022
News

Making It Count

Image by Martin Leon Barreto In 2021, while the pandemic was amplifying social inequities and climate catastrophes, investors were busy pouring more money than ever into environmental, social, and governance... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint

2024
Working Paper

A Gender Backlash: Does Exposure to Female Labor Market Participation Fuel Gender Conservatism?

By: Paula Rettl, Diane Bolet, Catherine E. De Vries, Simone Cremaschi, Tarik Abou-Chadi and Sergi Pardos-Prado

The growing participation of women in the labor market has marked a significant societal transformation, coinciding with the rise of gender conservatism and far-right support. We study whether the economic consequences of labor market feminization and gender backlash... View Details

Keywords: Gender Bias; Gender Equality; Gender Inclusivity; Politics; Political Backlash; Political Culture; Conservatism; Gender; Government and Politics; Equality and Inequality; Prejudice and Bias; Labor

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23 Oct 2007
First Look

First Look: October 23, 2007

accountability at the project and policy levels, particularly through the establishment and enforcement of social and environmental safeguards and complaint and response mechanisms. But they have been much less successful in changing... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 Feb 2021
News

A Playbook for Progress

adopters of new technology. Our younger Black and Brown respondents said their work contributes to the social good to a far greater degree than the white or Asian women said. And overall, these women are confident that they will control... View Details

September 17, 2021
Article

AI Can Help Address Inequity—If Companies Earn Users' Trust

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Kannan Srinivasan, Param Singh and Nitin Mehta

While companies may spend a lot of time testing models before launch, many spend too little time considering how they will work in the wild. In particular, they fail to fully consider how rates of adoption can warp developers’ intent. For instance, Airbnb launched a... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Algorithmic Bias; Technological Innovation; Perception; Diversity; Equality and Inequality; Trust; AI and Machine Learning

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01 Mar 2008
News

An American Odyssey

social change and very conscious that I was going to use my HBS training in different ways than most of my classmates,” America explains. “In class, I appreciated the pro-labor side in cases that had a union-management component. I was... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Lawrence Fouraker; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services; Finance

25 Oct 2024
Blog Post

Harvard Business School Announces Latest RISE Fellows

empowered and included. I’m excited to be part of elevating more BIPOC talent into senior leadership roles." Matthias Argenyi (MBA 2026)Matthias brings three years of experience from social finance, where he played a pivotal role in... View Details

2025
Working Paper

Global Evidence on Gender Gaps and Generative AI

By: Nicholas G. Otis, Solène Delecourt, Katelynn Cranney and Rembrand Koning

Generative AI has the potential to transform productivity and reduce inequality, but only if adopted broadly. In this paper, we show that recently identified gender gaps in generative AI use are nearly universal. Synthesizing data from 18 studies covering more than... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Technology Adoption; Behavior

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28 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 28

et al. Publication: British Journal of Social Psychology (forthcoming) Abstract Income inequality undermines societies: the more inequality, the more health problems, social... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2022
Case

VidyaGyan: Bridging the Rural Urban Divide

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Rachna Chawla, Kairavi Dey and Anjali Raina

Set up in 2008, VidyaGyan was a residential school for children in grades 6-12 from low-income rural families in Uttar Pradesh in northern India. It was the brainchild of Shiv Nadar and Cabinet Secretary T.S.R. Subramanian, who recognized the enormous potential hidden... View Details