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The reading selections in Institutionalized Inequality: Readings on the Structural Causes of Poverty and Inequality in America go beyond individualistic explanations of poverty and economic inequality to examine the equally important economic, political, and cultural forces contributing to these persistent social problems. This collection reminds students that the dominant individualistic explanations of poverty and inequality so prevalent in American culture do not adequately address the other equally important structural forces that have been well-documented by leading scholars in a variety of fields. This insightful anthology can be used in a variety of social science courses that explore poverty, economic inequality, social mobility, and a variety of related social problems. Institutionalized Inequality is a powerful resource that will help to significantly expand students' structural perspectives on these topics.
Rugged Individualism and the Misunderstanding of American Inequalityexplores and critiques the widespread perception in the United States that one’s success or failure in life is largely the result of personal choices and individual characteristics. As the authors show, the distinctively individualist ideology of American politics and culture shapes attitudes toward poverty and economic inequality in profound ways, fostering social policies that de-emphasize structural remedies. Drawing on a variety of unique methodologies, the book synthesizes data from large-scale surveys of the American population, and it features both conversations with academic experts and interviews with American citizens intimately familiar with the consequences of economic disadvantage. This mixture of approaches gives readers a fuller understanding of “skeptical altruism,” a concept the authors use to describe the American public’s hesitancy to adopt a more robust and structurally-oriented approach to solving the persistent problem of economic disadvantage.
The paradox of poverty amidst plenty--namely, that the wealthiest country in the world also has the highest rates of poverty among the industrialized nations--has plagued the United States throughout the 21st century. In The Poverty Paradox, Mark Rank, one of the nation's leading authorities on the subject, offers a unique analysis to arrive at a compelling answer and from there he suggests potential policy solutions.
Why do so many submit to the tyranny of the few? Why are group-based discriminatory practices like casteism, racism, islamophobia, antisemitism, and homophobia so common and enduring? Why do people consent to their own enslavement? How do people commit cruelties and still feel innocent at the same time? To uncover the truths, one must go beyond prevailing narratives and deconstruct conventional wisdom. This book explores this subject primarily through the lens of “caste”, as casteism encompasses all forms of identity-based discrimination.
The reading selections in Institutionalized Inequality: Readings on the Structural Causes of Poverty and Inequality in America go beyond individualistic explanations of poverty and economic inequality to examine the equally important economic, political, and cultural forces contributing to these persistent social problems. This collection reminds students that the dominant individualistic explanations of poverty and inequality so prevalent in American culture do not adequately address the other equally important structural forces that have been well-documented by leading scholars in a variety of fields. This insightful anthology can be used in a variety of social science courses that explore...
Work hard to get ahead; the poor are mostly minorities in inner cities living lazily off of welfare fraud; the government spends more on welfare than anywhere else in the world; America is a land of equal opportunity with easy social mobility for all. These are but a handful of the many myths about poverty in America, some of which have persisted for decades, with significant and harmful consequences on our social policy, our social compacts, and ourselves. Poorly Understood seeks to challenge and debunk these myths, along the way asking tough questions about how and why they have persisted and what it would take to replace them with true stories.
Conversations about liberty in the U.S. often focus on freedom from - such as freedom from government. This focus can sometimes come at the expense of the freedom to - such as the freedom for all Americans to live the lives they imagine for themselves, and the conditions that might be necessary for this to be realized. In On Inequality and Freedom, a divesre groupd of authors explore how Americans might benefit from this expanded notion of what freedom truly entails.
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