David Grusky speaks at a CSI event
A leading center of scholarship on inequality

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

What is CSI?

Photo of Professor Kendra Bischoff

Pursue the Minor that makes a Major difference

Click here to learn more about the minor in Inequality Studies, including our new Health Equity Track.

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