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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
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:
Click here to learn more about the minor in Inequality Studies, including our new Health Equity Track.
Annelise Orleck, Dartmouth College, will deliver the 2025 Alice Cook-Lois Gray Distinguished Lecture on April 15: “Poverty Wages, 'We're Not Lovin' It': Gender, Race and Inequality Rising in the 21st Century.”
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The real economic and social value of the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences research won’t show up in DOGE’s metrics.
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Isabel Perera explains why some countries have failed to provide adequate services for the mentally ill while others expanded care.
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Wednesday's executive order prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing in female sports discriminates not only against transgender people, but also against women, says philosophy professor Kate Manne.
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Neil Cholli, Klarman Postdoctoral Fellow in economics, has received a grant from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth to study how inequality affects economic growth and well-being in the U.S.
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The program provides undergraduates with summer opportunities to conduct research with and be mentored by faculty from across the college.
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“Gender plays out in many different ways across the world...even when both spouses agree on wanting more sons than daughters, this isn’t consistently correlated with girls getting less education," said sociologist Vida Maralani.
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Researchers have found that when it comes to politics, Black and Latino residents of rural America differ far less, if at all, from their urban counterparts than do non-Hispanic white residents.
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