Draft:Vincent Roscigno

A central strand of Roscigno's work examines how race, gender, and age discrimination operate within organizations and labor markets. His 2007 book The Face of Discrimination: How Race and Gender Impact Work and Home Lives (Rowman & Littlefield), which was undertaken with a group of Ohio State doctoral students, draws on archived discrimination complaints filed with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission to document the forms, processes, and daily consequences of race and sex discrimination in employment and housing.^[11]

Subsequent articles have extended this research. Roscigno has examined the role of workplace power in shaping discrimination and sexual harassment,^[12] documented the mental health consequences of age discrimination for workers over 40,^[13] and analyzed how bureaucratic structures and legal loopholes shape the adjudication of discrimination claims.^[14] His public writing on ageism in the American workplace, published in Contexts , the magazine of the American Sociological Association, has been widely cited in academic and policy discussions of age discrimination.^[15]

With Reginald Byron of the University of Denver, Roscigno has a forthcoming book, Chains of Discrimination: How Organizational Norms, Toxic Cultures, and Legal Loopholes Matter for Race and Gender Inequality (Russell Sage Foundation, ASA Rose Series, 2026), which focuses on the structural and cultural foundations of discrimination within organizations.^[16]

Roscigno's earlier research explored the intersection of culture, media, and labor mobilization in the American South. His 2004 book The Voice of Southern Labor: Radio, Music, and Textile Strikes, 1929–1934 (co-authored with William F. Danaher; University of Minnesota Press) examines how southern textile mill workers used radio broadcasts and music to build solidarity and sustain labor insurgency during the major strikes of 1929 and 1934.^[17] The book was funded in part by the National Science Foundation and was reviewed in the Journal of Interdisciplinary History, the International Review of Social History, Contemporary Sociology, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics Monthly Labor Review .^{[18] [19] [20]} Sociologist Richard Flacks described the book as "an instant classic in studies of the wellsprings of collective action."^[21]

Roscigno has written extensively on the sociological concept of power as it operates within organizations and workplaces. His 2011 article "Power, Revisited," published in Social Forces and delivered as his Presidential Address to the Southern Sociological Society, offers a theoretical treatment of power that bridges structural and interactional perspectives.^[22] His work with colleagues on bureaucratic rulebreaking and Kafkaesque organizational dynamics has appeared in journals such as the Academy of Management Review and Human Relations.^[23]

Roscigno has also contributed extensively to the sociology of education, examining how racial inequality, place, and resource disparities shape educational achievement and attainment. His research has addressed the black-white achievement gap, the role of place-based institutional resources, charter schools, and the effects of test preparation and shadow education on college enrollment.^{[24] [25]}

More recently, Roscigno has led a large-scale, multi-method longitudinal study on first-generation college students at Ohio State University, examining the structural and social barriers they face in persisting, integrating into campus life, and achieving upward mobility. This work, conducted with Anne McDaniel and several former graduate students, has produced publications in Socius, Sociology of Education, Sociological Forum, and Contexts .^{[26] [27]} He also chaired the American Sociological Association's Task Force on First-Generation and Working Class Sociologists from 2018 to 2022, under which the task force conducted original research on inequalities experienced by first-generation faculty and graduate students in the discipline.^[3]

• Bryon, Reginald and Vincent J. Roscigno. Chains of Discrimination: How Organizational Norms, Toxic Cultures, and Legal Loopholes Matter for Race and Gender Inequality. New York: Russell Sage Foundation (ASA Rose Series), forthcoming 2026.
• Roscigno, Vincent J. The Face of Discrimination: How Race and Gender Impact Work and Home Lives . New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.
• Roscigno, Vincent J. and William F. Danaher. The Voice of Southern Labor: Radio, Music, and Textile Strikes, 1929–1934 . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2004.

• Roscigno, Vincent J., Jasmine Whiteside, Erick Axxe, Anne McDaniel, and Oded Mcdossi. "Being First-Generation." Contexts 24 (2025).
• Roscigno, Vincent J., Jill E. Yavorsky, and Natasha Quadlin. "Gendered Dignity at Work." American Journal of Sociology 127 (2021): 285–312.
• Roscigno, Vincent J., Carsten Sauer, and Peter Valet. "Rules, Relations and Work." American Journal of Sociology 123 (2018): 1784–1825.
• Roscigno, Vincent J. "Power, Revisited." Social Forces 90 (2011): 349–374.
• Restifo, Salvatore J., Vincent J. Roscigno, and Zhenchao Qian. "Segmented Assimilation, Split Labor Markets, and Racial/Ethnic Stratification." American Sociological Review 78 (2013): 897–924.
• Roscigno, Vincent J. and Randy Hodson. "The Organizational and Social Foundations of Worker Resistance." American Sociological Review 69 (2004): 14–39.
• Roscigno, Vincent J. and William F. Danaher. "Media and Mobilization: The Case of Radio and Southern Textile Worker Insurgency, 1929–1934." American Sociological Review 66 (2001): 21–48.