This feature is part of an ongoing RSF blog series, Work in Progress, which highlights some of the research of our current class of Visiting Scholars.

In a time of rising college tuitions and soaring student loan debt, higher education has become increasingly inaccessible to all but the affluent. Though a number of policymakers—including several of the 2016 presidential candidates—have sought to make post-secondary education more affordable for the middle class, new research shows that college campuses themselves may play a role in exacerbating inequality.

At the Foundation, Visiting Scholar Tali Mendelberg (Princeton University) is conducting an in-depth analysis of the consequences of affluence on U.S. college campuses, looking at how concentrations of high-income students at universities may reinforce economic inequality. She is exploring whether the presence of many affluent students creates social norms on campuses that prioritize the wealthy and marginalize low-income students, thereby leading to lower rates of leadership and future political participation among low-income young adults.

In an interview with the Foundation, Mendelberg explained how these norms are established, how they exacerbate inequality, and what kinds of policies might ameliorate them. A paper on this topic will be published later this year (a working paper can be found here).

Q. Recent studies of social inequality, including work by RSF author Martin Gilens, have shown that affluent Americans (those in the top 10% of the income distribution) hold significant influence over public policy and tend to oppose policies that reduce inequality. Your current work expands this body of research to look at the role of college campuses in shaping the economic preferences of the affluent. Although colleges have long been thought to "liberalize" students' beliefs, you've found that they can also conservatize. How has this worked in terms of students' economic beliefs? What kinds of norms around money and affluence are established on college campuses?

The Russell Sage Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of nineteen leading social scientists as Visiting Scholars for the 2016-2017 academic year. During their time in residence, they will pursue research and writing projects that reflect the Foundation's commitment to strengthening the social sciences and conducting research "for the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States."

Several incoming scholars will undertake research on immigration, including an investigation of how low-income Latino parents navigate the family court system, an analysis of how race and gender affect immigrant incorporation in the U.S. today, and a working group that will examine how the Great Recession has affected the second-generation immigrants’ transitions to adulthood. Other scholars will work on projects related to socioeconomic inequality, including a historical study of the relationship between the rise of corporate power and economic inequality, and an investigation of how social relations and personal networks influence the health outcomes of disadvantaged groups. Others in the incoming class will investigate the changing nature of work and the labor force, including a study of precarious scheduling practices in retail firms, and an analysis of how education and skills development influence midlife labor force participation among racially diverse workers.

To read more about the individual scholars’ research topics, click the links below or visit the Incoming Scholars page on our website.

• Toni C. Antonucci, Elizabeth M. Douvan Collegiate Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan
• Saurabh Bhargava, Assistant Professor of Economics, Carnegie Mellon University
• Mesmin Destin, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Education, Northwestern University
• Katharine Donato, Professor of Sociology, Vanderbilt University
• Greg J. Duncan, Distinguished Professor at the School of Education, University of California, Irvine
• Cynthia Feliciano, Associate Professor of Sociology and Chicano/Latino Studies, University of California, Irvine
• Paola Giuliano, Associate Professor of Economics, University of California, Los Angeles
• Hilary W. Hoynes, Professor of Public Policy and Economics, University of California, Berkeley
• James S. Jackson, Daniel Katz Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan
• Chinhui Juhn, Henry Graham Professor of Economics, University of Houston
• Arne L. Kalleberg, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Vikki S. Katz, Associate Professor of Communication, Rutgers University
• Susan J. Lambert, Associate Professor in the School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago
• Helen Levy, Research Associate Professor at the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan
• Mark Lilla, Professor of Humanities, Columbia University
• Chandra Muller, Professor of Sociology, University of Texas, Austin
• Cecilia L. Ridgeway, Lucie Stern Professor in the Social Sciences, Stanford University
• Rubén G. Rumbaut, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of California, Irvine
• Jay J. Van Bavel, Associate Professor of Psychology, New York University

The Russell Sage Foundation’s Behavioral Economics Roundtable will sponsor the twelfth Summer Institute in Behavioral Economics, to be held in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire from June 27 to July 9, 2016. The purpose of this workshop is to introduce graduate students and beginning faculty in economics and related disciplines to the findings and methods of behavioral economics—the application of psychological theory and research to economics. The program will include topics on psychological foundations such as decision-making under risk and uncertainty, intertemporal choice, biases in judgment, mental accounting, and social preferences, as well as the implications of these foundations for savings behavior, labor markets, development economics, finance, public policy, and other economic topics.

Faculty who have completed their Ph.D. program since April 2015 or Ph.D. students who will have completed at least one year of their graduate program by July 2016 are eligible to apply. Complete applications, including letters of recommendation, must be received by Friday, March 11, 2016.