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About Annual Meeting
Civil-law problems with housing and money are widespread in contemporary societies. But while such problems are common, people experience them in diverse ways. Drawing on a recent comprehensive national survey, I find social class differences both in how people handle similar problems and in the consequences of those problems. The troubles of working class people are more likely to cause negative consequences -- including those that can threaten household financial stability -- than are similar problems experienced by higher social class groups. Inequality in the risk of adverse consequences persists once classes’ different ways of handling their troubles are taken into account. Civil justice problems are revealed as an engine of social inequality: people’s experiences with them not only reflect their positions in the social order, but help to reproduce those positions and may exacerbate existing differences between social class groups.