Being Different Can Hurt: Effects of Deviation from Physical Norms on Lawyers’ Salaries
研究基于1984年全国律师调查数据，发现超重和偏瘦对男律师薪资有负面影响，但对女律师无显著影响，且体重对薪资的影响并非线性。
A recent federal appeals court ruling barred employment bias against obese people. A reconsideration of the association between being overweight and salary is therefore in order. This article examines the effect of being overweight and thin on lawyers’ salaries as reported in the 1984 National Lawyer Survey. Using regression models derived from the clinical nutrition literature as well as models based on the lawyers in the sample themselves,we find an effect of being overweight on salary for men and not for women attorneys. There is also an effect of being thin on men’s but not on women’s salaries. Importantly, the influence of thinness means that the effect of weight on salary is not linear. We suggest that the relationship between salaries and appearance may result from social perceptions of people deviating from an “ideal” physique.