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In the past three decades, incarceration has become an increasingly powerful force for reproducing and reinforcing social inequalities. A new wave of sociological research details the contemporary experiment with mass incarceration in the United States and its attendant effects on social stratification. This review first describes the scope of imprisonment and the process of selection into prison. It then considers the implications of the prison boom for understanding inequalities in the labor market, educational attainment, health, families, and the intergenerational transmission of inequality. Social researchers have long understood selection into prison as a reflection of existing stratification processes. Today, research attention has shifted to the role of punishment in generating these inequalities.

We examine changes in the nature and rate of complaints filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in the past 35 years. The EEOC's role has shifted over this period from ensuring job access for racial minorities to providing diverse protections for a much broader class of incumbent workers. We first describe trends in discrimination complaints, most notably the shift from racial discrimination to other bases of discrimination, and develop a conceptual model of choice among socially structured alternatives to account for them. We then test the model with a time series analysis of changes in the complaint rate among different worker groups to evaluate the relative importance of legal, political, and socioeconomic determinants of civil rights complaints. Net of changes in the political climate, benefit compensation, inequality, and education levels, we find that legal changes and group‐specific unemployment rates are the strongest and most consistent determinants of the rate of race, sex, and total discrimination complaints. Our results suggest that people will bear the costs of filing a complaint when legal options are relatively attractive and when employment options on the external labor market are unattractive.

As levels of criminal punishment have risen in the US, more & more citizens have been disenfranchised because of a felony conviction. This paper provides an overview & analysis of the unique practice of felon disenfranchisement in the US today. We focus in particular on the political impact of disenfranchising large numbers of nonincarcerated felons -- those who have served their entire sentences & those living in their home communities while completing a term of probation or parole. Our discussion is organized around three key issues relating to felon disenfranchisement: (1) the historical & legal origins of this practice; (2) its practical political impact on recent elections; & (3) the racial dynamics that color both the history & contemporary effects of felon disenfranchisement in the US. We discuss how felon disenfranchisement laws in many states appear to be out of step with both international practices & public opinion in the US & consider contemporary policy proposals. 3 Tables, 5 Figures, 75 References. Adapted from the source document.