“At a time of fierce debate over America’s economic future, this fresh and deeply researched book provides a welcome antidote to the complacent conventional wisdom that good jobs are gone for good. One of the nation’s leading experts on the low-wage labor market, Paul Osterman, has teamed up with one of the nation’s leading champions of low-wage workers, the late Beth Shulman, to produce a powerful, informed case for making ‘bad’ jobs better. What Osterman and Shulman show is that doing so would benefit not just low-wage workers. It would also benefit our society and our economy more broadly.”
—JACOB S. HACKER, Stanley Resor Professor of Political Science and director, Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University 

“There is no more pressing question than how we insure that American workers are able to lay claim to jobs that pay well and hold the promise of economic security. Good Jobs America is a powerful, no-holds-barred effort to answer that call. Paul Osterman and his late coauthor, Beth Shulman, do not shy away from the sobering realities: even employers dedicated to the ‘high road’ often abandon those commitments, pushing wages down, violating labor laws, and outsourcing in pursuit of the lowest wage bill. Yet the authors insist we can do better than this. They call for serious union reform, the mobilization of public opinion to pressure firms to do better, and insisting that citizens return the question of good jobs to the campaign trail. There are no easy solutions, but at last we have a book that puts the options on the table. We will be debating its conclusions for a long time to come.”
—KATHERINE NEWMAN, James B. Knapp Dean of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University 

“In this timely book, Paul Osterman and Beth Shulman address an important labor-market problem, the proliferation of low-wage jobs in the United States. Their thoughtful and accessible discussion provides an overview of the reasons for the spread of low-wage jobs in recent years and evaluates some of the major actions that are needed by diverse parties—firms, governments, local organizations, unions—to transform these bad jobs into good jobs.”
—ARNE L. KALLEBERG, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

America confronts a jobs crisis that has two faces. The first is obvious when we read the newspapers or talk with our friends and neighbors: there are simply not enough jobs to go around. The second jobs crisis is more subtle but no less serious: far too many jobs fall below the standard that most Americans would consider decent work. A quarter of working adults are trapped in jobs that do not provide living wages, health insurance, or much hope of upward mobility. The problem spans all races and ethnic groups and includes both native-born Americans and immigrants. But Good Jobs America provides examples from industries ranging from food services and retail to manufacturing and hospitals to demonstrate that bad jobs can be made into good ones. Paul Osterman and Beth Shulman make a rigorous argument that by enacting policies to help employers improve job quality we can create better jobs, and futures, for all workers.

Good Jobs America dispels several myths about low-wage work and job quality. The book demonstrates that mobility out of the low-wage market is a chimera—far too many adults remain trapped in poor-quality jobs. Osterman and Shulman show that while education and training are important, policies aimed at improving earnings equality are essential to lifting workers out of poverty. The book also demolishes the myth that such policies would slow economic growth. The experiences of countries such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands, show that it is possible to mandate higher job standards while remaining competitive in international markets. Good Jobs America shows that both government and the firms that hire low-wage workers have important roles to play in improving the quality of low-wage jobs. Enforcement agencies might bolster the effectiveness of existing regulations by exerting pressure on parent companies, enabling effects to trickle down to the subsidiaries and sub-contractors where low-wage jobs are located. States like New York have already demonstrated that involving community and advocacy groups—such as immigrant rights organizations, social services agencies, and unions—in the enforcement process helps decrease workplace violations. And since better jobs reduce turnover and improve performance, career ladder programs within firms help create positions employees can aspire to. But in order for ladder programs to work, firms must also provide higher rungs—the career advancement opportunities workers need to get ahead.

Low-wage employment occupies a significant share of the American labor market, but most of these jobs offer little and lead nowhere. Good Jobs America reappraises what we know about job quality and low-wage employment and makes a powerful argument for our obligation to help the most vulnerable workers. A core principle of U.S. society is that good jobs be made accessible to all. This book proposes that such a goal is possible if we are committed to realizing it.

PAUL OSTERMAN is NTU Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management as well as a member of the Department of Urban Planning at MIT.

BETH SHULMAN was senior fellow at Demos, chair of the Board of the National Employment Law Project, and co-chair of the Fairness Initiative on Low-Wage Work.

"Asian American Political Participation provides a revealing and nuanced analysis of the political attitudes and voting preferences of the rapidly growing, highly diverse, and increasingly influential population of sixteen million Asian Americans. Based on the first-ever large-scale, multilingual national survey, this work is a 'must read' for all who study or participate in American electoral politics, the politics of race and ethnicity, and the political acculturation of immigrants. The team of Janelle Wong, S. Karthick Ramakrishnan, Taeku Lee, and Jane Junn has made an exceptional contribution to public knowledge and research about the growing impact and visibility of Asian American voters, donors, activists, and politicians."
-DON T. NAKANISHI, University of California, Los Angeles

"In this theoretically nuanced and empirically sophisticated study, these brilliant young political scientists not only decipher the paradoxes of Asian American political engagement, they show why it requires us to redefine our understanding of political participation in America-and how to do so. Destined to be a classic."
-JOHN MOLLENKOPF, CUNY Graduate Center

"Path-breaking in its evidence and in the sophistication of interpretation, Asian American Political Participation is an indispensable study for anyone interested in Asian Americans in American politics. The four authors, all leading specialists, offer rich insights into why Asian Americans are voting as they are. With Asian Americans becoming an increasingly important constituency, this book is useful and most timely."
-GORDON H. CHANG, Stanford University

"This book is outstanding for explaining participation rates across Asian American individuals and groups. Using new national survey data, the authors of this breakthrough study identify commonalities among Asian Americans, but also differences by national origin that produce significant variation in civic engagement. Although much is known about the general causes of political activity, the valuable lesson of Asian American Political Participation is that theory depends critically on group contexts that are rooted in politics, geography, history, and race."
-DENNIS CHONG, Northwestern University

Asian Americans are a small percentage of the U.S. population, but their numbers are steadily rising—from less than a million in 1960 to more than 15 million today. They are also a remarkably diverse population—representing several ethnicities, religions, and languages—and they enjoy higher levels of education and income than any other U.S. racial group. Historically, socioeconomic status has been a reliable predictor of political behavior. So why has this fast-growing American population, which is doing so well economically, been so little engaged in the U.S. political system? Asian American Political Participation is the most comprehensive study to date of Asian American political behavior, including such key measures as voting, political donations, community organizing, and political protests. The book examines why some groups participate while others do not, why certain civic activities are deemed preferable to others, and why Asian socioeconomic advantage has so far not led to increased political clout.

Asian American Political Participation is based on data from the authors’ groundbreaking 2008 National Asian American Survey of more than 5,000 Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, and Japanese Americans. The book shows that the motivations for and impediments to political participation are as diverse as the Asian American population. For example, native-born Asians have higher rates of political participation than their immigrant counterparts, particularly recent adult arrivals who were socialized outside of the United States. Protest activity is the exception, which tends to be higher among immigrants who maintain connections abroad and who engaged in such activity in their country of origin. Surprisingly, factors such as living in a new immigrant destination or in a city with an Asian American elected official do not seem to motivate political behavior—neither does ethnic group solidarity. Instead, hate crimes and racial victimization are the factors that most motivate Asian Americans to participate politically. Involvement in non-political activities such as civic and religious groups also bolsters political participation. Even among Asian groups, socioeconomic advantage does not necessarily translate into high levels of political participation. Chinese Americans, for example, have significantly higher levels of educational attainment than Japanese Americans, but Japanese Americans are far more likely to vote and make political contributions. And Vietnamese Americans, with the lowest levels of education and income, vote and engage in protest politics more than any other group.

Lawmakers tend to favor the interests of groups who actively engage the political system, and groups who do not participate at high levels are likely to suffer political consequences in the future. Asian American Political Participation demonstrates that understanding Asian political behavior today can have significant repercussions for Asian American political influence tomorrow.

JANELLE WONG is associate professor of political science and American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California and director of the Institute of Public Service at Seattle University.

S. KARTHICK RAMAKRISHNAN is associate professor of political science at the University of California, Riverside.

TAEKU LEE is professor of political science and law at the University of California, Berkeley.

JANE JUNN is professor of political science at the University of Southern California.

"In the last decade, the growing body of research by sociologists and economists showing that advantages in one generation are inherited by the next has clearly filtered through to policymakers who now consider economic mobility to be an important policy objective. Persistence, Privilege, and Parenting breaks new ground by probing deeper into the various factors over the life course that contribute to differences in intergenerational mobility across countries. The work in this volume advances our knowledge and will contribute to policy discussions going forward."
-BHASH MAZUMDER, senior economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

"This eye-opening collection of papers on cross-national research on social mobility is an invaluable contribution to the literature. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a must-read volume for students of stratification and the family."
-FRANK F. FURSTENBERG, Zellerbach Family Professor of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania

"That growing up poor does not mean one's children will be poor is a source of pride in America, 'the land of opportunity.' But how does intergenerational mobility in education and income in the United States stack up against mobility in other advanced industrialized countries? What are the sources of differences across countries in rates of intergenerational mobility? What roles do public policies and social institutions play in leveling the playing field in particular countries? Making use of rich recent data from a variety of countries, Persistence, Privilege, and Parenting addresses these questions and provides striking and compelling evidence with important implications for debates about public tax and expenditures policies."
-RICHARD J. MURNANE, Thompson Professor of Education and Society, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Americans like to believe that theirs is the land of opportunity, but the hard facts are that children born into poor families in the United States tend to stay poor and children born into wealthy families generally stay rich. Other countries have shown more success at lessening the effects of inequality on mobility—possibly by making public investments in education, health, and family well-being that offset the private advantages of the wealthy. What can the United States learn from these other countries about how to provide children from disadvantaged backgrounds an equal chance in life? Making comparisons across ten countries, Persistence, Privilege, and Parenting brings together a team of eminent international scholars to examine why advantage and disadvantage persist across generations. The book sheds light on how the social and economic mobility of children differs within and across countries and the impact private family resources, public policies, and social institutions may have on mobility.

In what ways do parents pass advantage or disadvantage on to their children? Persistence, Privilege, and Parenting is an expansive exploration of the relationship between parental socioeconomic status and background and the outcomes of their grown children. The authors also address the impact of education and parental financial assistance on mobility. Contributors Miles Corak, Lori Curtis, and Shelley Phipps look at how family economic background influences the outcomes of adult children in the United States and Canada. They find that, despite many cultural similarities between the two countries, Canada has three times the rate of intergenerational mobility as the United States—possibly because Canada makes more public investments in its labor market, health care, and family programs. Jo Blanden and her colleagues explore a number of factors affecting how advantage is transmitted between parents and children in the United States and the United Kingdom, including education, occupation, marriage, and health. They find that despite the two nations having similar rates of intergenerational mobility and social inequality, lack of educational opportunity plays a greater role in limiting U.S. mobility, while the United Kingdom’s deeply rooted social class structure makes it difficult for the disadvantaged to transcend their circumstances. Jane Waldfogel and Elizabeth Washbrook examine cognitive and behavioral school readiness across income groups and find that pre-school age children in both the United States and Britain show substantial income-related gaps in school readiness—driven in part by poorly developed parenting skills among overburdened, low-income families. The authors suggest that the most encouraging policies focus on both school and home interventions, including such measures as increases in federal funding for Head Start programs in the United States, raising pre-school staff qualifications in Britain, and parenting programs in both countries.

A significant step forward in the study of intergenerational mobility, Persistence, Privilege, and Parenting demonstrates that the transmission of advantage or disadvantage from one generation to the next varies widely from country to country. This striking finding is a particular cause for concern in the United States, where the persistence of disadvantage remains stubbornly high. But, it provides a reason to hope that by better understanding mobility across the generations abroad, we can find ways to do better at home.

TIMOTHY M. SMEEDING is director of the Institute for Research on Poverty and Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

ROBERT ERIKSON is professor of sociology at the Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University.

MARKUS JANTTI is professor of economics at the Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University.

CONTRIBUTORS: Jo Blanden, Miles Corak, Lori J. Curtis, Matthew Di Carlo, Greg J. Duncan, Robert Erikson, John Ermisch, Gøsta Epsing-Andersen, David B. Grusky, Robert Haveman, Markus Jäntti, John Jerrim, Jan O. Jonsson, Ariel Kalil, Bertrand Maître, John Micklewright, Carina Mood, Brian Nolan, Fabian T. Pfeffer, Shelley Phipps, Reinhard Pollak, Chiara Pronzato, Timothy M. Smeeding, James P. Smith, Kjetil Telle, Sander Wagner, Jane Waldfogel, Elizabeth Washbrook, Christopher T. Whelan, Kathryn Wilson, Kathleen M. Ziol-Guest, Julie M. Zissimopoulos

"Just Neighbors? is a needed and welcome assessment of African American and Latino relations. As more of the nation's major cities become majority minority a key question becomes how people and communities of color interact with, understand, and affect one another. Edward Telles and colleagues have pulled together an excellent set of articles that in a rich and mutually informing manner, span the fields of anthropology, political science, and sociology. The work highlights the dynamics of group identity and stereotyping processes, of local context and characteristics particularly within the labor market, and especially of community leadership in molding the tenor of group relations. Just Neighbors? provides an important and broad-gauge baseline for serious scholarship on black-Latino relations."
-LAWRENCE D. BOBO, W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University

"Studies of intergroup relations traditionally have been framed in terms of minority-majority interactions. In the United States, this meant black-white relations or, more recently, Hispanic-white relations. As the United States becomes a minority-majority society with no single dominant group, however, this framing increasingly does not apply. Equally important now and in the future are minority-minority relations, and perhaps no relationship is as critical as to the future of America as that between blacks and Hispanics. Interactions between these groups will determine much about the future demography, politics, and socioeconomic structure of the nation. Just Neighbors? is a timely and very welcome contribution to the scholarly literature, bringing together the nation's top researchers on blacks and Hispanics and the relations between them to synthesize what is known-and not known-about this critical issue."
-DOUGLAS S. MASSEY, Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University

"Just Neighbors? is a much-needed and brilliant contribution to the increasingly important fields of critical race theory and empirical racial studies. Edward Telles, Mark Sawyer, and Gaspar Rivera-Salgado and the authors they have brought to this project accomplish two extremely difficult but critical tasks. First, the authors in this volume are able to knit together and expand upon theoretical and empirical studies of racial dynamics in the United States, especially the Southwest. While many have argued that racial studies in the United States must move beyond the black-white paradigm, these authors, using the finest social science research methods, move our theoretically informed empirical understanding of these phenomena qualitatively forward. Second, as the editors explain, there is relatively little research that studies the dynamics between populations of color that also is sensitive to intra-group as well as inter-group differences. Thus, their probing of black-Latino cooperation and conflict in a number of domains is a valuable contribution to our understanding of what will be increasingly a foundation of American politics and civil society in the decades to come. Bravo!"
-MICHAEL DAWSON, John D. MacArthur Professor of Political Science and director, Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture, The University of Chicago

Blacks and Latinos have transformed the American city—together these groups now constitute the majority in seven of the ten largest cities. Large-scale immigration from Latin America has been changing U.S. racial dynamics for decades, and Latino migration to new destinations is changing the face of the American south. Yet most of what social science has helped us to understand about these groups has been observed primarily in relation to whites—not each other. Just Neighbors? challenges the traditional black/white paradigm of American race relations by examining African Americans and Latinos as they relate to each other in the labor market, the public sphere, neighborhoods, and schools. The book shows the influence of race, class, and received stereotypes on black-Latino social interactions and offers insight on how finding common ground may benefit both groups.

From the labor market and political coalitions to community organizing, street culture, and interpersonal encounters, Just Neighbors? analyzes a spectrum of Latino-African American social relations to understand when and how these groups cooperate or compete. Contributor Frank Bean and his co-authors show how the widely held belief that Mexican immigration weakens job prospects for native-born black workers is largely unfounded—especially as these groups are rarely in direct competition for jobs. Michael Jones-Correa finds that Latino integration beyond the traditional gateway cities promotes seemingly contradictory feelings: a sense of connectedness between the native minority and the newcomers but also perceptions of competition. Mark Sawyer explores the possibilities for social and political cooperation between the two groups in Los Angeles and finds that lingering stereotypes among both groups, as well as negative attitudes among blacks about immigration, remain powerful but potentially surmountable forces in group relations. Regina Freer and Claudia Sandoval examine how racial and ethnic identity impacts coalition building between Latino and black youth and find that racial pride and a sense of linked fate encourages openness to working across racial lines.

Black and Latino populations have become a majority in the largest U.S. cities, yet their combined demographic dominance has not abated both groups’ social and economic disadvantage in comparison to whites. Just Neighbors? lays a much-needed foundation for studying social relations between minority groups. This trailblazing book shows that, neither natural allies nor natural adversaries, Latinos and African Americans have a profound potential for coalition-building and mutual cooperation. They may well be stronger together rather than apart.

EDWARD TELLES is professor of sociology at Princeton University and vice president of the American Sociological Association.

MARK Q. SAWYER is associate professor of African American studies and political science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and is also director of the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Politics.

GASPAR RIVERA-SALGADO is project director at the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education.

CONTRIBUTORS: James D. Bachmeier, Matt A. Barreto, Frand D. Bean, Susan K. Brown, Jessica Johnson Carew, Niambi Carter, Regina M. Freer, Michael Jones-Correa, Gerald F. Lackey, Claudia Sandoval Lopez, Monique L. Lyle, Cid Martinez, Paula D. McClain, Monica McDermott, Tatcho Mindiola Jr., Jason L. Morin, Tatishe M. Nteta, Shayla C. Nunnally, Efren O. Perez, Victor M. Rios, Nestor Rodriquez, Gabriel R. Sanchez, Candis Watts, Rosaura Tafoya-Estrada, James Diego Vgil, Kevin Wallsten, Eugene Walton Jr., Sylvia Zamora.

“Shattering Culture is a fine book, organized around a tightly constructed theme but taking advantage of the authors’ widely varying perspectives and professions. It carefully examines the mantra of ‘cultural competence.’ While valuing different cultural frameworks and emphasizing the need to understand patients from their own perspective, the authors show how some elements of respect for diversity must be rethought in the face of hard realities of running a health care system. The message is sensitive, sensible, and energizingly bold.”
—JENNIFER L. HOCHSCHILD, Harvard University

“Shattering Culture humanizes the struggle to provide culturally-grounded health care to a patient population that refuses to fit neatly into our tidy conceptual boxes. Drawing from their own insider and outsider perspectives, the editors and authors deliver an unusually empathic yet critical analysis of the various players and practices that interact to shape patient care—for better and for worse. Beautifully written, and brimming with rich, ethnographic details, this volume explodes static formulations of cultural competence, and shows us just how much more work we have to do. A remarkable achievement.”
—DORIS F. CHANG, New School for Social Research

“This volume shines a fresh and brilliant light on contemporary culture and American healthcare. Shattering Culture is essential reading for the social and medical sciences and particularly for the fields of global health, medical anthropology/sociology, internal medicine, psychiatry, psychology, and public health. The immediacy of the problems tackled here (precisely how does culture ‘count’?) is demonstrated with compelling qualitative materials that empirically display intimate clinician-patient encounters under the press of ‘checkbox medicine/psychiatry.’ This book takes an utterly fearless look into the chasm of cultural complexity and provides the foundation for innovation in the provision of healthcare.”
—JANIS H. JENKINS, University of California, San Diego

"Culture counts" has long been a rallying cry among health advocates and policymakers concerned with racial disparities in health care. A generation ago, the women’s health movement led to a host of changes that also benefited racial minorities, including more culturally aware medical staff, enhanced health education, and the mandated inclusion of women and minorities in federally funded research. Many health professionals would now agree that cultural competence is important in clinical settings, but in what ways? Shattering Culture provides an insightful view of medicine and psychiatry as they are practiced in today’s culturally diverse clinical settings. The book offers a compelling account of the many ways culture shapes how doctors conduct their practices and how patients feel about the care they receive.

Based on interviews with clinicians, health care staff, and patients, Shattering Culture shows the human face of health care in America. Building on over a decade of research led by Mary-Jo Good, the book delves into the cultural backgrounds of patients and their health care providers, as well as the institutional cultures of clinical settings, to illuminate how these many cultures interact and shape the quality of patient care. Sarah Willen explores the controversial practice of matching doctors and patients based on a shared race, ethnicity, or language and finds a spectrum of arguments challenging its usefulness, including patients who may fear being judged negatively by providers from the same culture. Seth Hannah introduces the concept of cultural environments of hyperdiversity describing complex cultural identities. Antonio Bullon and Mary-Jo Good demonstrate how regulations meant to standardize the caregiving process—such as the use of templates and check boxes instead of narrative notes—have steadily limited clinician flexibility, autonomy, and the time they can dedicate to caring for patients. Elizabeth Carpenter-Song looks at positive doctor-patient relationships in mental health care settings and finds that the most successful of these are based on mutual “recognition”—patients who can express their concerns and clinicians who validate them. In the book’s final essay, Hannah, Good, and Park show how navigating the maze of insurance regulations, financial arrangements, and paperwork compromises the effectiveness of mental health professionals seeking to provide quality care to minority and poor patients.

Rapidly increasing diversity on one hand and bureaucratic regulations on the other are two realities that have made providing culturally sensitive care even more challenging for doctors. Few opportunities exist to go inside the world of medical and mental health clinics and see how these realities are influencing patient care. Shattering Culture provides a rare look at the day-to-day experiences of psychiatrists and other clinicians and offers multiple perspectives on what culture means to doctors, staff, and patients and how it shapes the practice of medicine and psychiatry.

MARY-JO DELVECCHIO GOODis professor of social medicine at Harvard Medical School and teaches in the Department of Sociology at Harvard University, in addition to being a faculty affiliate of the Asia Center, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.

SARAH S. WILLEN is assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Connecticut.

SETH DONAL HANNAH is lecturer on sociology at Harvard University.

KEN VICKERY is director of external fellowships at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

LAWRENCE TAESENG PARK assistant professor of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.

CONTRIBUTORS: Antonio Bullon, Joseph D. Calabrese,  Elizabeth Carpenter-Song,  Sadeq Rahimi, Lisa Stevenson, Marina Yaroshenko.  

"One does not often apply the term 'landmark' to an edited volume, but this volume is a major exception to the rule. Whither Opportunity? is one of the most important compendia we have, for it examines in detail and from all conceivable angles the power of class to determine the developmental fate of America's children. From this volume, we learn that children in communities experiencing unemployment do worse in school even if their own families are safe from its reach; that test score gaps by income are larger and growing faster than the gaps between black and white; that expenditures by high-income families on enrichment of all kinds are vastly larger than what low-income families can afford. All of this adds up to a new and troubling examination of the ways in which income inequality is pressing the nation's children, youth, neighborhoods, schools, and families. I don't often use the overworked phrase, 'must read,' but it most definitely applies to this book."
-KATHERINE S. NEWMAN, James B. Knapp Dean of Arts and Sciences and professor of sociology, Johns Hopkins University

"Almost all Americans state that they are in favor of equal opportunity for the next generation. But the lip service stops there. Whither Opportunity? systematically and forcefully follows low- and high-income children through the life course from birth through their labor-market outcomes. The authors suggest that at every stage in the life course low-income children have worse outcomes than do higher-income children, leading to a highly polarized future society. The myriad of studies summarized here offer compelling evidence that if we as a nation really believe in equality of opportunity, we must intervene early and often in low- income children's lives and in the schools they attend, while also addressing the rising inequality that is ultimately giving well-to-do children every advantage possible and harming low-income children. This book will be a reference source on child development, inequality, and schools for years to come. I urge you to read it and then become active in social change to better the situation of low-income children in America."
-TIMOTHY M. SMEEDING, director, Institute for Research on Poverty, and Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs and Economics, University of Wisconsin, Madison

As the incomes of affluent and poor families have diverged over the past three decades, so too has the educational performance of their children. But how exactly do the forces of rising inequality affect the educational attainment and life chances of low-income children? In Whither Opportunity? a distinguished team of economists, sociologists, and experts in social and education policy examines the corrosive effects of unequal family resources, disadvantaged neighborhoods, insecure labor markets, and worsening school conditions on K-12 education. This groundbreaking book illuminates the ways rising inequality is undermining one of the most important goals of public education—the ability of schools to provide children with an equal chance at academic and economic success.

The most ambitious study of educational inequality to date, Whither Opportunity? analyzes how social and economic conditions surrounding schools affect school performance and children’s educational achievement. The book shows that from earliest childhood, parental investments in children’s learning affect reading, math, and other attainments later in life. Contributor Meredith Phillip finds that between birth and age six, wealthier children will have spent as many as 1,300 more hours than poor children on child enrichment activities such as music lessons, travel, and summer camp. Greg Duncan, George Farkas, and Katherine Magnuson demonstrate that a child from a poor family is two to four times as likely as a child from an affluent family to have classmates with low skills and behavior problems – attributes which have a negative effect on the learning of their fellow students. As a result of such disparities, contributor Sean Reardon finds that the gap between rich and poor children’s math and reading achievement scores is now much larger than it was fifty years ago. And such income-based gaps persist across the school years, as Martha Bailey and Sue Dynarski document in their chapter on the growing income-based gap in college completion.

Whither Opportunity? also reveals the profound impact of environmental factors on children’s educational progress and schools’ functioning. Elizabeth Ananat, Anna Gassman-Pines, and Christina Gibson-Davis show that local job losses such as those caused by plant closings can lower the test scores of students with low socioeconomic status, even students whose parents have not lost their jobs. They find that community-wide stress is most likely the culprit. Analyzing the math achievement of elementary school children, Stephen Raudenbush, Marshall Jean, and Emily Art find that students learn less if they attend schools with high student turnover during the school year – a common occurrence in poor schools. And David Kirk and Robert Sampson show that teacher commitment, parental involvement, and student achievement in schools in high-crime neighborhoods all tend to be low.

For generations of Americans, public education provided the springboard to upward mobility. This pioneering volume casts a stark light on the ways rising inequality may now be compromising schools’ functioning, and with it the promise of equal opportunity in America.

GREG J. DUNCAN is distinguished professor in the Department of Education at the University of California, Irvine.

RICHARD J. MURNANE is Thompson Professor of Education and Society at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

CONTRIBUTORS:  Joseph G. Altonji, Elizabeth O. Ananat,  Emily Art,  Martha J. Bailey,  Don Boyd,  Harry Brighouse,  Julia Burdick-Will,  Vilsa E. Curto,  Susan M. Dynarski,  George Farkas,  Roland G. Fryer Jr.,  Frank F. Furstenberg,  Anna Gassman-Pines,  Lisa Gannetian,  Christina M. Gibson-Davis,  David Harding, Michael Hout,  Meghan L. Howerd,  Brian A. Jacob,  Alexander Janus,  Marshall Jean,  Neeraj Kaushal,  David S. Kirk, Jeffrey Kling,  Hamp Lankford,  Phillip B. Levine, Tamara Wilder Linkow,  Susanna Loeb,  Jens Ludwig,  Katherine Magnuson,  Richard K. Mansfield,  Charles A. Nelson III, Meredith Phillips, Stephen W. Raudenbush,  Sean F. Reardon,  Matthew Ronfeldt,  Brian Rowan,  Robert J. Sampson, Amy Ellen Schwartz,  Patrick Sharkey,  Margaret A. Sheridan,  Leanna Stiefel,  Megan M. Sweeney,  Jacob L. Vigdor,  Jane Waldfogel,  Christopher Winship,  Jim Wyckoff. 

"This is the first systematic, scholarly analysis of the initial effects of the Great Recession on the well-being of American workers and families. The authors analyze historical and recent data and document who lost their jobs, their homes, their financial assets; how the Federal stimulus bill enhanced the safety net for the poor and unemployed; and how individuals, families, and institutions responded to the economic shocks. Taken together, the chapters present a gloomy forecast. Job losses have been greater and the recovery slower than in other recessions and the 'deficit mania' that prevents new Federal stimulus and encourages state and local government layoffs means that unemployment and poverty will remain high for at least the next five years."
—Sheldon H. Danziger, H. J. Meyer Distinguished University Professor of Public Policy, University of Michigan

"This is a collection of basic studies of the economic, social, cultural, and political consequences of the economic downturn of 2008-2009. A first-rate team of social scientists contributes an impressively thorough set of analyses that go well beyond journalistic accounts, which tend to overemphasize the dramatic, the short-term, and the anecdotal. Yet The Great Recession is timely, important, and novel-essential reading about the broad implications of the great economic crisis of our time."
—Robert D. Mare, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Statistics, UCLA

Officially over in 2009, the Great Recession is now generally acknowledged to be the most devastating global economic crisis since the Great Depression. As a result of the crisis, the United States lost more than 7.5 million jobs, and the unemployment rate doubled—peaking at more than 10 percent. The collapse of the housing market and subsequent equity market fluctuations delivered a one-two punch that destroyed trillions of dollars in personal wealth and made many Americans far less financially secure. Still reeling from these early shocks, the U.S. economy will undoubtedly take years to recover. Less clear, however, are the social effects of such economic hardship on a U.S. population accustomed to long periods of prosperity. How are Americans responding to these hard times? The Great Recession is the first authoritative assessment of how the aftershocks of the recession are affecting individuals and families, jobs, earnings and poverty, political and social attitudes, lifestyle and consumption practices, and charitable giving.

Focused on individual-level effects rather than institutional causes, The Great Recession turns to leading experts to examine whether the economic aftermath caused by the recession is transforming how Americans live their lives, what they believe in, and the institutions they rely on. Contributors Michael Hout, Asaf Levanon, and Erin Cumberworth show how job loss during the recession—the worst since the 1980s—hit less-educated workers, men, immigrants, and factory and construction workers the hardest. Millions of lost industrial jobs are likely never to be recovered and where new jobs are appearing, they tend to be either high-skill positions or low-wage employment—offering few opportunities for the middle-class. Edward Wolff, Lindsay Owens, and Esra Burak examine the effects of the recession on housing and wealth for the very poor and the very rich. They find that while the richest Americans experienced the greatest absolute wealth loss, their resources enabled them to weather the crisis better than the young families, African Americans, and the middle class, who experienced the most disproportionate loss—including mortgage delinquencies, home foreclosures, and personal bankruptcies. Lane Kenworthy and Lindsay Owens ask whether this recession is producing enduring shifts in public opinion akin to those that followed the Great Depression. Surprisingly, they find no evidence of recession-induced attitude changes toward corporations, the government, perceptions of social justice, or policies aimed at aiding the poor. Similarly, Philip Morgan, Erin Cumberworth, and Christopher Wimer find no major recession effects on marriage, divorce, or cohabitation rates. They do find a decline in fertility rates, as well as increasing numbers of adult children returning home to the family nest—evidence that suggests deep pessimism about recovery.

This protracted slump—marked by steep unemployment, profound destruction of wealth, and sluggish consumer activity—will likely continue for years to come, and more pronounced effects may surface down the road. The contributors note that, to date, this crisis has not yet generated broad shifts in lifestyle and attitudes. But by clarifying how the recession’s early impacts have—and have not—influenced our current economic and social landscape, The Great Recession establishes an important benchmark against which to measure future change.

DAVID B. GRUSKY is professor of sociology at Stanford University.

BRUCE WESTERN is professor of sociology at Harvard University.

CHRISTOPHER WIMER is associate director of the Collaboration for Poverty Research and senior editor of Pathways at the Stanford Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality.

A Volume in the American Sociological Association’s Rose Series in Sociology

Winner of the 2012 Outstanding Book Award of the Theory Section of the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP)

In the long history of warfare and cultural and ethnic violence, the twentieth century was exceptional for producing institutions charged with seeking accountability or redress for violent offenses and human rights abuses across the globe, often forcing nations to confront the consequences of past atrocities. The Holocaust ended with trials at Nuremberg, apartheid in South Africa concluded with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the Gacaca courts continue to strive for closure in the wake of the Rwandan genocide. Despite this global trend toward accountability, American collective memory appears distinct in that it tends to glorify the nation’s past, celebrating triumphs while eliding darker episodes in its history. In American Memories, sociologists Joachim Savelsberg and Ryan King rigorously examine how the United States remembers its own and others’ atrocities and how institutional responses to such crimes, including trials and tribunals, may help shape memories and perhaps impede future violence.

American Memories uses historical and media accounts, court records, and survey research to examine a number of atrocities from the nation’s past, including the massacres of civilians by U.S. military in My Lai, Vietnam, and Haditha, Iraq. The book shows that when states initiate responses to such violence—via criminal trials, tribunals, or reconciliation hearings—they lay important groundwork for how such atrocities are viewed in the future. Trials can serve to delegitimize violence—even by a nation’s military— by creating a public record of grave offenses. But the law is filtered by and must also compete with other institutions, such as the media and historical texts, in shaping American memory. Savelsberg and King show, for example, how the My Lai slayings of women, children, and elderly men by U.S. soldiers have been largely eliminated from or misrepresented in American textbooks, and the army’s reputation survived the episode untarnished. The American media nevertheless evoked the killings at My Lai in response to the murder of twenty-four civilian Iraqis in Haditha, during the war in Iraq. Since only one conviction was obtained for the My Lai massacre, and convictions for the killings in Haditha seem increasingly unlikely, Savelsberg and King argue that Haditha in the near past is now bound inextricably to My Lai in the distant past. With virtually no criminal convictions, and none of higher ranks for either massacre, both events will continue to be misrepresented in American memory. In contrast, the book examines American representations of atrocities committed by foreign powers during the Balkan wars, which entailed the prosecution of ranking military and political leaders. The authors analyze news accounts of the war’s events and show how articles based on diplomatic sources initially cast Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic in a less negative light, but court-based accounts increasingly portrayed Milosevic as a criminal, solidifying his image for the public record.

American Memories provocatively suggests that a nation’s memories don’t just develop as a rejoinder to events—they are largely shaped by institutions. In the wake of atrocities, how a state responds has an enduring effect and provides a moral framework for whether and how we remember violent transgressions. Savelsberg and King deftly show that such responses can be instructive for how to deal with large-scale violence in the future, and hopefully how to deter it.

JOACHIM J. SAVELSBERG is professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota.

RYAN D. KING is associate professor of sociology at the University at Albany, State University of New York.