Readings recommended by 2022 editorial board
|
Algorithms of Oppression, by Umoja Nobel
"Pioneering book for those interested in the way emerging technologies shape modern racism and inequalities. It offers an interesting technological examination of the existing biases and flaws of search engines, and how their intrinsic structure aggravates human inequalities, and harm disadvantaged groups. While the exclusive focus on Google may seem relatively narrow and not as digital encompassing, this book offers a glimpse into one of the most debatable digital architectures, due to their vast usage globally. Compared to other questionable technologies, the debate regarding search engines is complex, due to their alleged naïve apparatus, alongside relative covert data structure. The search engines reflect users quickly and efficiently enough their accurate desire, but the results represent a crucial lesion about human society and its non-technological flaws. "
Recommended by: Maya Sherman Vertical Divider
|
|
Capitalist Realism, by Fisher
"Capitalist Realism is an incisive take on the totalising effects of neoliberal capitalist logic, the politics of inevitability and our ideological imprisonment to self-perpetuating structures of inequality. Power relations are essentially ensconced in abstraction — Fisher does a great job of cutting through the fog. He reminds us of the terrifying reality that emancipatory politics cannot be carried out without a constant interrogation of what constitutes ‘reality’, and whose interests it serves. "
Recommended by: Cynthia Mbuthia Vertical Divider
|
|
Evicted, by Desmond
"An amazingly well-researched, well-written ethnography of housing, a key driver of inequality. Through the perspective of the families the author follows, readers gain a more comprehensive understanding of the scars of eviction and moral urgency of addressing America's affordable housing crisis."
Recommended by: Mark McKibbin Vertical Divider
|
|
The Grapes of Wrath, by Steinbeck
"Told through the eyes of a family who moves from Oklahoma to California during The Great Depression and The Dust Bowl, John Steinbeck illuminates the horrible consequences of unregulated capitalism for human dignity and the perpetuation of suffering. Steinbeck's novel serves as a powerful call for solidarity and equality in labour markets."
Recommended by: Mark McKibbin Vertical Divider
|
|
Habitus Clive and the Emotional Imprint of Social Mobility, by Friedman
"Exploring the less well known concept of habitus clivé, this article demonstrates the problematic and complex nature of social mobility in highly unequal societies. It highlights the pervasive and persistent nature of class demarcation and the effect it has upon those who transgress semi-rigid class boundaries."
Recommended by: Ed Penn Vertical Divider
|
|
The Health Gap, by Marmot
"This book challenges how we think about public health and health inequalities. Downstream policies to improve health focus on access to technical solutions - improved medical care, sanitation, and control of disease vectors; or lifestyle harming behaviours - smoking, drinking. However, these policies have limited effects. Marmot argues that the key to addressing health inequalities is creating the conditions for people to lead flourishing lives, thus empowering individuals and communities."
Recommended by: Silvia Grothe Vertical Divider
|
|
Invisible Women, by Criado Perez
"Crucial piece discussing the complexity of gender bias on the most subtle meanings of humanity, in a unique writing style compared to fellow authors in the discipline. In this book, Perez brings an in-depth examination of notable gender bias affairs and discusses how the gender data gap has led to the fragile status of women, up until they become almost invisible. Compared to other authors, she does not seek to explore the motives behind gender bias and analyses existing and amorphous affairs, which touch upon a myriad of human processes, such as product design, medical diagnosis, tax policies and employment. Nonetheless, she does not discuss only gender but highlights the universal outcomes of data shortage to other margin and vulnerable groups in society. This universal notion exceeds the timely themes discussed, and turn this piece into an essential contemporary critique of the ways humans form social norms and legitimize their actions under unrealistic labels. "
Recommended by: Maya Sherman Vertical Divider
|
|
Just Mercy, by Stevenson
"Memoir-style book that confronts the day-to-day injustices of the American legal system in a compelling and accessible way. Completely changed the way I think about how society interacts with systems of inequality."
Recommended by: Max Klapow Vertical Divider
|
|
The Parable of the Sower, by Butler
"This book is both beautifully written and a salient reflection upon the interconnection and ramifications of climate change and inequality. It weaves the dystopian and utopian together in a very powerful way. It is set in Los Angeles, California in 2025, at a time when the US as a whole and California in particular has been ravaged by drought, disease, and growing violence; moreover, in the midst of the chaos, authoritarian leaders are voted in to power on their promises to quickly end, largely through violence, the symptoms of climatic instability and inequality. The main character, Lauren, has hyper-empathy and is incredibly sensitive to the feelings and pain of others. It is in this world that she begins to construct another, forging a new religion and leading others towards this vision. It’s an amazing book and a demonstration of the power of science-fiction to critique our present, think through possibilities, and envision better worlds."
Recommended by: Zach Hollander Vertical Divider
|
|
Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Freire
"I think this is a tremendously important book for people within and outside of academia to read. It not only reflects critically on the methods by which we educate, and how those represent a particular normative system of what education is for, but speaks to the fundamental need to listen, center, and empower the voices of the oppressed and marginalized when seeking to overcome conditions of injustice and inequality. Moreover, this is a bivalent, if not multivalent, process of relationship and mutuality, and we must remain open to the ways in which people experiencing oppression can teach us and help envision alternative socio-political realities. It is a call for recognition and respect in order to subvert inequalities in representation, power, and voice. I think it is a crucial book for thinking through how we confront inequality in ways that are not solely economic and in ways which center those most suffering from it, as inequality is embodied and diffuse across different facets of life. "
Recommended by: Zach Hollander Vertical Divider
|
|
Poor Economics, by Banerjee and Duflo
"I loved this book for its evidence-based analysis of poverty and inequality, spanning various forms of socio-economic inequality across geographies and timelines. Further, I was inspired by this book's humble exploration of the ways in which poor people make choices - one that helped demolish many of my own pre-conceptions, while providing new insights on building solutions for greater equity. "
Recommended by: Rai Sengupta Vertical Divider
|
|
Madmen and Specialists, by Soyinka
"Written during his imprisonment during the Nigerian Civil War, in this play Wole Soyinka dances an unforgettable dance with the dark side of human nature. He paints a disturbing picture of the depravity that stems from unlimited power, the spiritual and psychological consequences of domination, and the madness that takes hold in conditions where balance does not exist. "
Recommended by: Cynthia Mbuthia Vertical Divider
|
|
Major Thinkers in Welfare, by George
"The book covers the viewpoints of welfare theorists from antiquity to the nineteenth century. It explores topics such as wealth, poverty and inequality, slavery, and gender issues through the eyes of Aristotle, Locke, and Karl Marx, among others. This book explains how the concepts of history's greatest welfare theorists may help us address today's most pressing social concerns."
Recommended by: Silvia Grothe Vertical Divider
|
|
Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture, by Bourdieu and Passeron
"This seminal text outlines the links between the education system and the reproduction of cultural and social differentiation through the hegemonic privileging of some cultural values and tastes over others. It shows how elites maintain their position not only through economic dominance, but through ‘symbolic violence’ – the demarcation of non-elite culture as lesser"
Recommended by: Ed Penn Vertical Divider
|
|
Roots of the Radical Right, by Gest, Reny, and Mayer
"Gest, Reny, and Mayer provide a compelling portrait of the rise of right-wing populism in the United States and Europe, arguing that a combination of declining political influence, economic stagnation, and racial equalization have left white voters feeling marginalized and dis-empowered. Compared to the standard's of past generations, the relative status and power of white communities has declined, leading to a sense of 'nostalgic deprivation' that fuels political radicalization. An essential read for trying to understand how inequality interacts with the rise of populism in U.S. and Europe."
Recommended by: Ross Snyder Vertical Divider
|
|
Savage Inequalities, by Kozol
"A sobering account of the state of American public schools and how race, class, and funding formulas combine to make education the 'great stratifier' instead of the 'great equalizer.' Kozol tells this story through firsthand experience and data, painting a devastatingly holistic picture of the conditions that too many children bear."
Recommended by: Trevor O'Connor Vertical Divider
|
|
Sisters of the Yam, by hooks
"bell hooks wrote intricately about how inequalities compound, intersect and reinforce each other, often leaving black women at the bottom of the hierarchy. In Sisters of the Yam, I find a deeply personal recipe for self-liberation and healing. It’s so important to define oneself, rather than mirror an ascribed identity, and to do so from a place of active awareness and lifelong learning. bell hooks reminds us to create tender spaces to do that for ourselves, building communities of belonging with active, radical, love. She helps us move beyond resistance, to transformation."
Recommended by: Cynthia Mbuthia Vertical Divider
|
|
The Souls of Black Folk, by Du Bois
"Near the beginning of the book, Du Bois writes that 'to be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.' Du Bois gives a vivid portrait of how racial hierarchies contribute to and exacerbate inequality, issues a powerful indictment of those who perpetuate these hierarchies, and a stirring call to action for those who want to challenge these unequal structures."
Recommended by: Mark McKibbin Vertical Divider
|
|
The Spirit Level, by Pickett and Wilkinson
"It is a ground-breaking book that asserts that societies with a greater wealth disparity are harmful to everyone, including the wealthiest. Inequality leads everyone's life to be shorter, unhealthier, and unhappier. It is a novel that challenges the reader to question the society in which we live. "
Recommended by: Silvia Grothe Vertical Divider
|
|
Strangers in Paradise, by Reay et. al
"Maybe the best known of Diane Reay’s extensive writing on habitus in education, this article outlines the experiences of habitus mismatch and hysteresis among working-class students at an elite university (can you recognise it…?)"
Recommended by: Ed Penn Vertical Divider
|
|
The Sum of Us, by McGhee
"Heather McGhee's book explores the ways that zero-sum thinking around issues of race have resulted in collective losses to America's communities. Driven by a desire to protect relative status and racial privilege, everything from unions to health care have been curtailed in the interest of a false notion of racial competition. McGhee's analysis helps to understand the thinking behind these decisions, and the consequences that result from it, catalguing the instances where public goods throughout the U.S. have been drained in the interest of preserving racial stratification."
Recommended by: Ross Snyder Vertical Divider
|
|
The Sun Does Shine, by Ray Hinton
"Narrative from Anthony Ray Hinton, who was on Death Row. Captures the heartbreak and resilience of Mr. Hinton and his struggle to find a sense of normalcy in the most tragic of circumstances."
Recommended by: Max Klapow Vertical Divider
|