Scott's Library

For the past 20 years I have studied a variety of issues pertaining to social class differences in U.S. society. There Is a variety of ways that class has been examined by intellectuals, but it has seemed to me that class issues and class differences are often ignored within the academy. However, after many years of observing a widening gap in the economic status of the "haves" and "have-nots" within U.S. society, I think it is critical that we re-examine the nature of class differences--causes, consequences, remedies--in order to better comprehend the nature of many contemporary social problems in America.

My doctoral and postdoctoral research on the changing status of the academic profession is part of a broader realm of inquiry into what I consider to be "the incredible shrinking middle class." Retrenchment, restructuring, downsizing: These are the buzz words of the 1990s in academia. But they've been around much longer in other sectors of the economy.

Where is the middle class going? Who wins, and who loses, as the middle class undergoes downsizing and restructuring? In my opinion, the evidence of a shrinking middle class is overwhelming, even if the causes are still subject to much debate. My thinking on this topic has been informed by American social critics such as Barbara Ehrenreich and Stanley Aronowitz as well as numerous researchers of trends in the political economy of advanced economic societies.

Here is a cross section of articles and web sites I've located on this topic so far. For an excellent, contemporary review of this issue, I would like to recommend the book Inequality by Design: Cracking the Bell Curve Myth by Claude S. Fischer, Michael Hout, Martin Sanchez Jankowski, Samuel R. Lucas, Ann Swidler, and Kim Voss, published in 1996 by Princeton University Press.

"The Inequality Express"

"The Downsizing of America" (New York Times Special Edition--Available to Subscribers Only)

"Inequality: Still on the Rise"

"How the Pie is Sliced"

"Who Speaks for the Middle Class?"

"The Middle Class Package Deal"

"Reverse Discrimination"

"Middle Class Benefits Most from GOP Initiatives"

"Data Highlights on U.S. Middle Class"

"Share of Aggregate Income Received by Each Fifth and Top 5 Percent of U.S. Households (1967 to 1993)"

"Media Transcripts on the Middle Class"

"The Atlantic Monthly Election Connection: Economics"

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