Ethnicity, Social Mobility, and Public Policy: Comparing the USA and UK

Description

This major comparative study of the social mobility of ethnic minorities in the US and UK argues that social mobility must be understood as a complex and multi-dimensional phenomenon, incorporating the wealth and income of groups, but also their political power and social recognition. Written by leading sociologists, economists, political scientists, geographers, and philosophers in both countries, the volume addresses issues as diverse as education, work and employment, residential concentration, political mobilisation, public policy and social networks, while drawing larger lessons about the meaning of race and inequality in the two countries. While finding that there are important similarities in the experience of ethnic, and especially immigrant, groups in the two countries, the volume also concludes that the differences between the US and UK, especially in the case of American blacks, are equally important.

Glenn C. Loury is Professor of Economics and Director of the Institute on Race and Social Division at Boston University. Tariq Modood is Professor of Sociology, Politics and Public Policy and founding Director of the Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship, University of Bristol. He has published extensively and was awarded the MBE for services to social science and ethnic relations in 2001. Steven M. Teles is Assistant Professor of Politics at Brandeis University. He has published books and articles on a wide range of topics including welfare, affirmative action, devolution in the UK and EU.

'This book is a rich reservoir of empirical data interpreted with theoretical sensitivity. Datasets are deftly deployed and the subtleties of inter/intra-national contexts are illuminated. it is a timely and impressive contribution to our understanding of social mobility, the fungibility of social capital, and ethnicity and policy in a comparative context.' Work, Employment & Society