014 - Opening Plenary Session. Hard Times: The Concentrations of Income and Wealth

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Abstract

In recent decades we have seen a sharp rise in economic inequality. Nowhere has the increase in income inequality been documented as dramatically and as thoroughly as in the widely discussed work of Emmanuel Saez. The phenomenon of wealth inequality was brought to the forefront of sociologists’ attention by the work of Thomas Shapiro and Melvin Oliver, who established the profound implications of this phenomenon for the intergenerational perpetuation of racial stratification. Finally, Leslie McCall has established that, contrary to commonly held assumptions, Americans care deeply about economic inequality and the impact it has. These scholars will discuss the contours and implications of inequality in this plenary session, for which Thomas DiPrete serves as discussant.

Sub Unit

• Plenary and Presidential Panels

Session Organizer

• Annette Lareau, University of Pennsylvania

Presider

• Annette Lareau, University of Pennsylvania

Individual Presentations

• Inequality and Opportunity in the United States - Emmanuel Saez, University of California-Berkeley

• Black Wealth/White Wealth Revisited - Thomas M. Shapiro, Brandeis University; Melvin L. Oliver, University of California-Santa Barbara

• How Americans Think about Economic Inequality - Leslie McCall, Northwestern University

Discussant

• Thomas A. DiPrete, Columbia University