Social framework analysis

A sociological methodology that is a key component of a 2011 United States Supreme Court case regarding employment discrimination at Wal-Mart. Professor William T. Bielby has used the social framework analysis methodology to conclude that two aspects of Wal-Mart's culture, centralized personnel policy and managerial subjective decision making in the field, led to “decisions about compensation and promotion" to be vulnerable to gender bias. Bielby's contribution to this matter has been controversial. The American Sociological Association has commented that his work “is well within our discipline’s accepted methods;” however, Laurens Walker, one of the two professors who coined the term, has contested the validity of Bielby's work.

References

(1) http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/us/28scotus.html
(2) Crosby, F. J., Stockdale, M. S., & Ropp, S. A. 2007. Sex discrimination in the workplace: multidisciplinary perspectives. Wiley-Blackwell.
(3) https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&doctype=cite&docid=32+Law+%26+Psychol.+Rev.+1&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&key=bb863bb2a6a824207fd1a59e48fee8be
(4) http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_20/b3984081.htm