Conference: Dissecting Inequality: Difference and Disparity in the 21st Century

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

This award provides partial support for a conference to be held at Duke University in 2015. The conference includes a variety of activities to support the overall theme of "Dissecting Inequality: Difference and Disparity in the 21st Century". Funds from the NSF award will support an innovative plan to have junior scholars in Economics, Sociology, Psychology, Demography, and related fields work together plans for future collaborative research under the guidance of a distinguished group of senior scholars from Economics and Sociology. The fact of income inequality in the United States is well-documented in existing work. The goal of the conference is to spur new research on the causes and consequences of inequality. The conference will promote the progress of science on this important topic of research. It will also advance the national prosperity and welfare; better science in this area can contribute in an important way to policies designed to promote prosperity for all Americans. The research sessions at the conference will consider the current state of research on inequality and group identity. Directions considered for future research will rely on a mixed methods approach that includes both broad-based survey research and field experiments. Four specific domains will be considered: education, employment, income/wealth, and health/wellbeing. Attention will be given to the construction of group identity at both the social and individual levels and how that identity results from and possibly contributes to the reproduction of inequality.