The Diversity Factor © 2008
ISSN 1545-2808
Spring 2008
Diversity Perspectives
Volume 16, Number 2

Resources
Written by Wendy Conklin

Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification System, Douglas S. Massey, Russell Sage Foundation, ©2007

In this latest book by Douglas Massey — the Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University — he argues that social inequalities arise from the universal human tendency to place others into social categories. In America, he says, ethnic minorities, women and the poor have consistently been exploited and discriminated against throughout the nation's history. He singles out African-Americans who continue to face discrimination in markets for jobs, housing and credit.

Massey addresses the militarization of the U.S.-Mexican border, which has discouraged Mexican migrants from leaving the U.S., and created a pool of exploitable workers who lack the legal rights of citizens. He also shows that women's advances in the labor market have been concentrated among the affluent and well-educated, while low-skilled women workers have been relegated to occupations that offer few chances for earnings mobility. At the same time, he says that more working-class women are remaining unmarried and raising children on their own.

Even as minorities and women continue to face these obstacles, the progressive legacy of the New Deal has come under frontal assault. The government has passed anti-union legislation, made taxes more regressive, allowed the real value of the federal minimum wage to decline and drastically cut social welfare spending. As a result, the income gap between the richest and poorest has dramatically widened since 1980.

Bottom Line: By delving into the root causes of inequality in America, Categorically Unequal provides a compelling argument for the creation of a more equitable society.