Our Sophomore English students currently read The Other Wes Moore and use that non-fiction narrative as a springboard to research projects. Several teachers have asked for ideas of more recent titles dealing with diversity which could eventually replace or perhaps supplement that text. We developed a list with a few dozen names falling into rough categories dealing with economics (and social class), race, gender, immigration, disability, and military experience. Here are two very new titles which, while not narratives or memoirs, would definitely inform the current discussions about class divisions and inequality.

"How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live and Die" is the subtitle for THE BROKEN LADDER by Keith Payne, a professor at the University of North Carolina. He intermingles personal stories (e.g., experience with subsidized school lunches) with statistics or quotes based on research, often from the fields of neuroscience and psychology. The book's sections are varied, such as one on the corporate world, one on race, including a discussion of implicit bias, and one on emotions and political ideologies. Payne aptly uses numerous graphs and other visualizations (a human sized income distribution figure or a status ladder) to illustrate his arguments. His new book explores inequality in the US and around the world. Payne notes, for example, "the striking global consensus about how much pay inequality people would accept was exceeded only by the astonishing global ignorance about how much inequality actually exists."

Published by Viking (Penguin Random House), Payne's book is extremely well-researched and contains over 200 footnotes. In its review, Kirkus says that the author "provides valuable psychological insights into our daily behaviors." Our new copy of THE BROKEN LADDER will certainly be used by AP Psych and other classes.

Online post also includes a review and comments about WHITE WORKING CLASS by Joan C. Williams

This book covers a lot of different research on inequality from across the social and behavioral sciences. There are many books on poverty currently, but the author makes sure to clarify that though poverty and inequality are related they are not the same phenomenon. The book covers experiments on changes in individual behavior when experiencing inequality (in an experimental setting), as well as quasi-experiments and observational studies based on data collected in more real world situations. The book has a nice balance of presenting research and considering policy implications. It is kinda of a tough read, not because it is poorly written or disorganized, but because it covers a lot of information.