This volume contains a collection of original papers by leading legal scholars and social scientists that develop new perspectives on anti-discrimination law, with an emphasis on employment discrimination. The articles were written for a conference held at Stanford Law School in Spring 2003 that was sponsored by the American Bar Foundation and Stanford Law School. The purpose of that conference, this volume, and ongoing work by the Discrimination Research Group based at the American Bar FoundationandtheCenterforAdvancedStudyintheBehavioralSciencesistoadvance the social scienti?c understanding of employment discrimination and the operation of employment discrimination law as a social system, and to consider the legal and policy implications of this emerging body of social science. Now is a pivotal moment for an attempt at a deeper understanding of discrimi- tion and law. After three decades of theoretical development and empirical research onemploymentdiscriminationanditstreatmentinlaw,itiscrucialthatlawyers,social scientists,andpolicymakersassesswhatweknowanddonotknowaboutemployment discrimination and its treatment by law. To date, there are several streams of active research that only occasionally engage with each other. Economists and sociologists continue to debate the extent to which women, minorities, and other traditionally disadvantagedgroupsfacediscriminationinlabormarketsandorganizations. Orga- zation scholars and legal scholars have begun to map the effect of anti-discrimination law on organizational structures and processes, and to raise questions about the extent to which the legalization of organizational employment systems represents symbolic or substantive changes in employment practices.

There is still much to learn about fundamental aspects of employment discrimination law as a social system. What drives the growing demand for litigation? To what extent does discrimination persist in subtle but pervasive forms and what explains how it varies by organizational and market context? How do different groups of workers perceive the extent to which they are discriminated against and what, if anything, do they do about it? How have employers responded to discrimination law? How is employment discrimination law affected by broader political and legal currents? What is the relationship between anti-discrimination law and patterns of social inequality?

The chapters in this unique collection grapple with many of these issues. Questions of this scope require interdisciplinary scholarship; and this book includes original contributions from many of the legal scholars, economists, psychologists, sociologists, political scientists, and historians who are at the forefront of new research on discrimination and law. The Handbook of Employment Discrimination Research encompasses critical discussions across different social science disciplines, as well as between legal scholars and social scientists. As a collection, it suggests a broad reconsideration of employment discrimination and its treatment in law.