Inequality and Social Stratification

Sociologists of inequality study the distribution of income, wealth, education, health and longevity, autonomy, status, prestige, political power, or other desired social goods, often (though not exclusively) across groups defined by social classes and occupations, race, gender, immigrant status, age, or sexual orientation. The focus of their research is on describing patterns of inequality; understanding its political, social, and economic consequences; and understanding how the various dimensions of inequality interact with each other, change over time, vary across geopolitical space, persist across generations, and are affected by families, schools, neighborhoods, prisons, employers, cities and communities, local and national labor markets, unions and other labor market institutions, and taxation and redistribution policies.

The intellectual hub for inequality scholarship in sociology and in cognate social science fields is the Center for the Study of Inequality, which was founded in Sociology in 1999. Inequality scholars also work closely with the Cornell Population Center and the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research.

Related people

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Kendra Bischoff

Associate Professor

Image of Diane Burton
Diane Burton

Professor of Human Resource Studies (ILR)

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Daniel T. Lichter

Ferris Family Professor of Policy Analysis and Management, Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Sociology

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Vida Maralani

Associate Professor

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Kelly Musick

Professor of Public Policy and Sociology, Brooks Senior Associate Dean of Research

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Peter Rich

Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Sociology

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Landon Schnabel

Robert and Ann Rosenthal Assistant Professor

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Laura Tach

Professor of Public Policy and Sociology

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Pamela Tolbert

Lois S. Gray Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and the Social Sciences

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Pamela Tolbert

Lois S. Gray Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and the Social Sciences

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Maureen Waller

Professor of Public Policy and Sociology

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Kim Weeden

Jan Rock Zubrow ’77 Professor of the Social Sciences, Director of the Center for the Study of Inequality

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Cristobal Young

Associate Professor

All research areas

Community and Urban Sociology    Computational Social Science    Culture    Economy and Society    Gender    Inequality and Social Stratification    Methodology    Organizations, Work and Occupations    Policy Analysis    Political Sociology and Social Movements    Race, Ethnicity and Immigration    Science, Technology and Medicine    Social Demography    Social Networks    Social Psychology    Sociology of Education    Sociology of Family    Sociology of Health and Illness   
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