Politics of Inequality in America

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

In the past four decades, the United States has experienced an unprecedented rise in income and wealth inequality. Inequalities across multiple other dimensions (race, ethnicity, geography, and gender) are also pervasive. This course examines a multitude of questions related to politics, policy, and varieties of inequality: How has the American political system and the policies it produces affected levels of inequality in the U.S.? How has inequality shaped American politics and policy? What is the relationship between income and power? What are the political consequences of increasing income inequality? What are the implications of racial and ethnic inequities for the quality of democratic representation? Which policies increase political inequality? What are effective remedies for unequal influence? Finally, which institutions move democratic practice furthest towards full democratic equality and which ones serve to reinforce historical hierarchies? This course is designed to help students understand the political causes and consequences of inequality in America and consider potential interventions to support human flourishing for all. The course will be organized as a reading-focused seminar, with a combination of discussion and lecture rooted in cutting-edge scholarly research and evidence-based public commentary. Students will develop a substantial final research project that will be presented to an audience beyond the classroom.