About Us

Inequality lies at the heart of current debates about opportunity and equity, implicating numerous contemporary policy issues. Public and scholarly interest in inequality has intensified, not merely because of historic increases in income and wealth disparity in the United States and other advanced industrial countries, but also because inequalities of race, ethnicity, gender, and social class are evolving in dramatic and complicated ways. Cornell University is a leading center of scholarship on inequality, drawing strength from its many departments and college

Professor Kim Weeden — Kim Weeden, CSI Director

Director's Statement

Cornell University’s Center for the Study of Inequality (CSI) is devoted to understanding patterns, causes, and consequences of social and economic inequality. CSI fosters new and cutting-edge research, trains undergraduate and graduate students, encourages the exchange of ideas among inequality researchers, and disseminates research findings to a broader public. It supports research and knowledge that is evidence-based and systematic, whether it is “basic” research that develops formal models of the social processes that underpin inequality or “applied” research that assesses the intended or unintended consequences of policies that affect equality of opportunity.

CSI is based in the Sociology Department in the College of Arts and Sciences, but has more than 100 Faculty Affiliates from around campus. Faculty affiliates study a diverse range of topics, including:

labor market processes and earnings inequality
educational attainment and school-to-work transitions
poverty and homelessness
intergenerational mobility and equality of opportunity
residential segregation, neighborhoods, and urban poverty
racial and ethnic inequality, immigration
changing family forms and its impact on child development

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CSI News

'I've realized that no idea or dream is too big.'

5/15/2023

Syrielle Clement is a sociology major.

Integrating STEM majors won’t end gender segregation at work

5/01/2023

Only 36% of the gender segregation seen among college-educated workers is tied to their undergraduate degrees, a new study finds.

Same-race reviews reduce inequality in Airbnb bookings

2/08/2023

White guests favor Airbnb properties with white hosts, but are more inclined to rent from Black or Asian hosts if they see featured reviews from previous white guests, Cornell research finds.

Nexus Scholar applications open for summer 2023

11/03/2022

The program matches undergraduate students with summer opportunities to work side by side with faculty from across the College.

Cook-Gray Lecture Set for Sept. 29

9/08/2022

Francine Blau, the ILR School’s Frances Perkins Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and a Cornell professor of economics, is the 2023 Alice Cook/Lois Gray Distinguished Lecture speaker.

The cover of Chiara Galli’s forthcoming book will feature this painting by Victor Interiano, a Salvadoran artist based in Los Angeles.

New book documents lives of unaccompanied minors

6/14/2022

For six years, Klarman Fellow Chaira Galli helped youths from Central America navigate the United States’ labyrinthine asylum process while doing an ethnographic study.

Women want to work, despite workforce precarity

3/28/2022

Despite persistent gaps in workforce participation, when it comes to wanting to work, the gender gap has all but disappeared over the last 45 years, according to Cornell sociologist Landon Schnabel.

A&S sophomore earns spot in summer program in D.C.

3/29/2022

Mar’Quon Frederick, a government major, will spend the summers of 2022 and 2023 in the Institute for Responsible Citizenship's Washington Program.

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