The Intersectional Effects of Race, Gender, and Class on Worker Outcomes

In this dissertation, I investigate how the combined structural locations of workers’ race, gender, and class affect their individual outcomes in their personal domain (health perceptions), their work domain (job satisfaction), and the interface between their personal and work domains (work-life management). I test hypotheses of structural inequality models to dissect the theoretical concept of intersectionality: institutionalized structures of race, gender and class interact to influence an individual’s outcomes depending on his or her intersectional location, such that some routinely obtain advantages while others routinely obtain disadvantages. I introduce a proxy variable of class that follows a similar logic and visibility to race and gender so that intersectional models can be explicitly tested. Using data from the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce, I compare outcomes in different domains of workers’ lives. Results indicate that race, gender, and class do predict differences in workers outcomes. While nonwhite working class women are systemically and cumulatively disadvantaged in terms of health outcomes, results for job satisfaction and work-life management are mixed. The findings indicate that structural advantage and disadvantage varies among race, gender, and class categorizations and across domains. I discuss explanations for the results; implications for scholars, organizational leaders, and policy makers; limitations; and directions for future research.