Unequal America

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

America is the richest country in the world and yet about three million American children now grow up in families surviving on just $2 a day. As America's richest 0.1% have seen their incomes more than quadruple over the last forty years, the incomes for 90% of Americans have barely changed. These financial disparities reflect deeper inequities: inequalities in health, educational opportunity, social status and more. In this course, we will examine the nature and consequences of American inequality. After a broad overview of historical and comparative trends, the course will address such questions as: What kinds of inequalities, if any, should trouble us, and why? How do aspects of individuals' identities - such as race, gender, and social class - shape their life chances? How is inequality (re)produced by institutions like schools, neighborhoods, and the criminal justice system? And, finally, what might be done to make America less unequal in the years to come?