ISBN: 0871546205

Inequality in income, earnings, and wealth has risen dramatically in the United States over the past three decades. Most research into this issue has focused on the causes-global trade, n… More...

Inequality in income, earnings, and wealth has risen dramatically in the United States over the past three decades. Most research into this issue has focused on the causes-global trade, new technology, and economic policy-rather than the consequences of inequality. In Social Inequality, a group of the nation's leading social scientists opens a wide-ranging inquiry into the social implications of rising economic inequality. Beginning with a critical evaluation of the existing research, they assess whether the recent run-up in economic inequality has been accompanied by rising inequality in social domains such as the quality of family and neighborhood life, equal access to education and health care, job satisfaction, and political participation. Marcia Meyers and colleagues find that many low-income mothers cannot afford market-based child care, which contributes to inequality both at the present time-by reducing maternal employment and family income-and through the long-term consequences of informal or low-quality care on children's educational achievement. At the other end of the educational spectrum, Thomas Kane links the growing inequality in college attendance to rising tuition and cuts in financial aid. Neil Fligstein and Taek-Jin Shin show how both job security and job satisfaction have decreased for low-wage workers compared with their higher-paid counterparts. Those who fall behind economically may also suffer diminished access to essential socia politics and social sciences,social sciences,sociology,textbooks Politics & Social Sciences, Russell Sage Foundation<

ISBN: 9780871546203

Inequality in income, earnings, and wealth has risen dramatically in the United States over the past three decades. In Social Inequality, a group of the nations leading social scientists … More...

Inequality in income, earnings, and wealth has risen dramatically in the United States over the past three decades. In Social Inequality, a group of the nations leading social scientists assess whether the recent run-up in economic inequality has been accompanied by rising inequality in social domains such as the quality of family and neighborhood life, equal access to education and health care, job satisfaction, and political participation. While today's widening inequality may be a temporary episode that Inequality in income, earnings, and wealth has risen dramatically in the United States over the past three decades. In Social Inequality, a group of the nations leading social scientists assess whether the recent run-up in economic inequality has been accompanied by rising inequality in social domains such as the quality of family and neighborhood life, equal access to education and health care, job satisfaction, and political participation. While today's widening inequality may be a temporary episode that will resolve itself as the country adapts to the recent shocks of globalization and compurerization, the danger is that the current economic divisions may harden into permanent social divisions, setting in mortion a self-perpemating cycle of social disadvantages. The most comprehensive review of this quandary to date. Social Inequality maps out a new agenda for research on inequality in America with important for public policy.<