455 - Special Session. Inequality in International Comparison: Powerful Approaches

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Abstract

The fact that the United States are marked by exceptionally high and rising levels of social inequality is well established. To understand the institutional factors behind the sources and consequences of this inequality, sociological research is increasingly turning its attention to other nations that have kept inequality at lower levels, slowed its growth despite similar external pressures, or mitigated its detrimental effects on families and children. The degree to which such cross-national comparisons may be able to shape scientific progress and inform national policy-making crucially depends on the extent to which inequality-generating mechanisms can be reliably established within each nation studied.
The panelists will discuss how comparative research can shed light on the mechanisms that produce and flow from unequal resource distributions with a particular eye towards the distinct opportunities provided by nationally representative panel studies (both long-running panel surveys, such as the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), as well as newer studies from Latin America and China).

Sub Unit

• Special Sessions

Session Organizer

• Fabian T. Pfeffer, University of Michigan

Presider

• Fabian T. Pfeffer, University of Michigan

Panelists

• David Brady, WZB Berlin Social Research Center

• Florencia Torche, New York University

• Yu Xie, University of Michigan

Discussant

• Guillermina Jasso, New York University