Roithmayr described as an impressive scholar, creative thinker and dedicated teacher
USC Law Prof. Daria Roithmayr was recently named the holder of the George T. and Harriet E. Pfleger Chair in
Law. Professor Roithmayr is a critical race theorist who has devoted her legal scholarship to examining the intersections of race, justice and society,
Roithmayr, who joined the USC Law faculty in 2006, was honored at a Nov. 16 ceremony before friends, family and colleagues. Charles Whitebread, who died in 2008, formerly held the Pfleger Chair.
Dean Robert K. Rasmussen described Roithmayr as an impressive scholar, creative thinker and dedicated teacher.
“Daria’s scholarship combines theoretical insights with empirical insights – drawing from biology, history, economics, sociology and psychology,” Rasmussen said. “She truly embodies the type of interdisciplinary work we have become famous for at USC.”
Roithmayr, whose book, Them That’s Got Shall Get: Why Racial Inequality Persists, will be published by New York University Press, focuses her research and writing on the dynamics of racial inequality. Although intentional racial discrimination may be waning, entrenched network connections continue to reproduce racial inequities, she said.
“It takes money to make money, and because of our racially discriminatory history, whites have had an unfair early advantage,” Roithmayr said. “White families earned more money because they profited from slave labor. That additional money gave them the ability in subsequent generations to buy their kids houses and pay for college.”
A decade ago, Roithmayr began examining similarities between race discrimination and market monopolies, using Microsoft as a model. In the 1990s, Microsoft’s market share for PC operating systems was extremely large and stable and protected by a high barrier to entry, Roithmayr said.
After looking at Microsoft, she began asking the question: What if whites had a continuing monopoly based on self-reinforcing family connections, wealth and education, a monopoly that persisted in the same way Microsoft did?
“Whites have created an ideological reality that says racism doesn’t exist,” Roithmayr said. “But race continues to matter in a way that the law doesn’t recognize.”
In her next scholarly endeavor, Roithmayr plans to explore how cultural practices evolve over time and the role that law plays in them.
“I’ve thought a lot about drug gangs, here and in Mexico, and in particular, the link between gang violence and the use of snitches by law enforcement. I’ll be looking at the evolution of cultural norms in tandem with structural changes and the role that law plays… That will be the new focus for my scholarship,” she said.
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