University Press Copublishing Division / Lehigh University Press
Pages: 302
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9¼
978-1-61146-234-0 • Hardback • February 2020 • $135.00 • (£104.00)
978-1-61146-236-4 • Paperback • March 2022 • $45.99 • (£35.00)
978-1-61146-235-7 • eBook • February 2020 • $43.50 • (£35.00)
Lawrence M. Eppard is assistant professor of sociology at Shippensburg University.
Mark Robert Rank is the Herbert S. Hadley Endowed Professor of Social Welfare at Washington University in St. Louis.
Heather E. Bullock is professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Chapter 1The Problem with American Individualism
PART I: Social Science Perspectives
Chapter 2The American Inequality Palette
Chapter 3Social Psychological Functions of Inequality Beliefs
Chapter 4In Conversation
PART II: Individualism on the Ground
Chapter 5Cleaning the Ivory Tower
Chapter 6Paved with Good Intentions
PART III: The Big Picture
Chapter 7Inequality Beliefs and Social Justice
Afterword
References
Index
About the Authors
Despite this text's range of authors and contributors, including Henry Giroux and Noam Chomsky, the book's main thrust is social psychological. It surveys recent writing and research that outlines and seeks to explain why the US is an outlier among affluent (principally European) nations in its minimalist approach to social programs and policies to mitigate poverty. Though recognizing that racism, i.e., the popular view that “redistribution favors racial minorities,” has always infested policy choices and that the US “political system is geared towards preventing redistribution,” the authors emphasize individualism as the force that explains cross-national differences. This ideology is reinforced by an “underdeveloped non-individualistic vocabulary” and an unpopular sociological counter-narrative. System-justification research is cited to explain why “low-income and working-class people endorse hierarchy-enhancing beliefs that go against their own self-interest,” a concept also explored in Thomas Frank's What’s the Matter with Kansas? (2004). . . its many voices make this a useful text that raises fundamental questions about inequality beliefs. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through graduate students.
— Choice Reviews
Rugged Individualism and the Misunderstanding of American Inequality offers an important analysis of working-class Americans who have lost ground economically and struggle to make sense of their plight using the available cultural resources. This book is creative, insightful, and original.— Peter Callero, professor of sociology, Western Oregon University
Why is there so much poverty in the United States, a country with so much wealth? In a meticulously argued and well-written book, Eppard, Rank, and Bullock pursue this question by taking readers on a deep dive into the American culture of individualism. The authors' multifaceted investigation of this individualistic ethos and the powerful role it plays in limiting policy options is a tremendous accomplishment. Rugged Individualism and the Misunderstanding of American Inequality is a must-read book, a timely and indispensable contribution to our understanding of poverty, inequality, and the workings of American politics.— Edward Royce, professor emeritus of sociology, Rollins College; author of The Origins of Southern Sharecropping, Classical Social Theory and Modern Society, and Poverty and Power
Drawing on social scientific research, expert opinion, and everyday experience, Eppard, Rank, and Bullock reveal how the mystique of individualism has been used to justify ever-escalating levels of economic inequality in the contemporary United States. Rigorously argued and accessibly written, Rugged Individualism and the Misunderstanding of American Inequality is a model of engaged public scholarship and collaborative social inquiry that invites us to take the critical first steps toward a more just and equitable future.— Alice O'Connor, professor of history and director of the Blum Center for Global Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development