363 Uris Hall
(607) 254-8674
@InequalityCU
inequality@cornell.edu
www.inequality.cornell.edu
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. The Center emphasizes rigorous, systematic, and empirically supported research into the general social processes, social and political institutions (e.g., schools, families, workplaces, nation-states), and policies that shape inequalities in outcomes and in opportunities.
CSI is based in the Department of Sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences, but has more than 100 faculty affiliates and 50 graduate student affiliates around campus. Affiliates study a 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 their impact on inequality
- gender inequality in schools, families, and labor markets
- health inequality
- social class, poverty, and inequality measurement
- the politics of inequality and the inequality of politics
- economic development and inequality
- social justice and the ethics of inequality
- how law and public policy affect inequality
Minor in Inequality Studies
The Minor in Inequality Studies allows undergraduate students to supplement their major with a coherent program of courses about inequality in the social sciences, humanities, and even life sciences. The Minor in Inequality Studies is open to students in all Cornell undergraduate colleges and can be completed in conjunction with almost any major. Currently, the Minor enrolls more than 300 undergraduates from six different undergraduate colleges. Students who meet the requirements of the Minor receive an official note on their academic records. For more information on the Minor, including current course listings and enrollment information, visit the CSI website.
Symposia and Lecture Series
CSI sponsors symposia, workshops, informal discussions of faculty and students, and public lectures on the most pressing problems and controversies in inequality scholarship. The current schedule of events is listed on the CSI website.