Why We Disagree about Inequality

John Iceland is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Demography at The Pennsylvania State University.Eric Silver is Professor of Sociology and Criminology at The Pennsylvania State University.Ilana Redstone is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

“Americans disagree over the priority of social justice and social order. This simple framework does an astonishing amount of moral, political, and empirical work in explaining contention over fractious issues of racial, gender, and class inequalities, as well as who deserves to become an American. If any book can make us communicate better and engage more effectively, this is the one.”Jennifer Hochschild, Harvard University“It might be thought that the typical person’s views about gender, racial, or income inequality are a booming-buzzing admixture of beliefs that accrete in happenstance fashion. Not so! In this elegant contribution, it’s argued that there are but two inequality worldviews in play, each very coherently organized around different first principles. A bold analysis of the cultural underpinnings of today’s inequality wars.”David B. Grusky, Stanford University“Original and persuasive. The ‘culture war’ is one of the most important and most discussed but also ill-defined issues shaping contemporary society. The book offers a very useful and well-argued framework for explaining the differences between the two warring parties in the culture war.”Luke Hildyard, Director of the High Pay Centre

• Chapter 1. IntroductionChapter 2: The Social Order–Social Justice FrameworkChapter 3. Gender InequalityChapter 4. Racial InequalityChapter 5. Income Inequality and PovertyChapter 6. ImmigrationChapter 7. Where Do We Go from Here?