Fifty Ways to Create Inequality: Social Policy, Politics, and Federalism in the United States

1 credits · Undergraduate

The rights and resources people may access in the US are not determined by what they need or even by what they are ostensibly entitled to as citizens or residents, but rather by where they live—consider voting rights, abortion care, or high-quality public education as examples of the peaks and valleys of (in)equality across the states. Variation results from federalism—a foundational system of US governance and the underlying mechanism that creates fluctuations in inequality across the country. The goal of this FOCUS course is for students to become near-expert in the intricacies of federalism, enabling them to counter misinformation, develop well-informed opinions on a range of social policies, and expand their imaginations regarding potential solutions to inequality.