Unequal America: Class Conflict, the News Media, and Ideology in an Era of Record Inequality

by Anthony DiMaggio

Overview

This book examines Americans and their beliefs about the class divide in the United States. It argues that Americans’ beliefs about class and the economic divide develop through a multistep process. Economic affluence influences the development of worldview, measured in terms of ideology, partisanship, and self-identified class consciousness. Class consciousness in turn affects how people look at political and economic issues. This book is intended for scholars and students at every level who study inequality from a political, economic, or sociological position, along with general readers with a growing interest in and awareness of the effects of inequality on our democracy, especially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the resulting economic contraction, and the protests over racial injustice erupting throughout the world in 2020.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781000258455
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/09/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	316
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Anthony R. DiMaggio is Associate Professor of Political Science at Lehigh University and the author of a variety of books on mass media and politics—most recently, Rebellion in America (Routledge, 2020) and Political Power in America (SUNY Press, 2019). He has remained active over the last few decades in social movements and as an avid social commentator in the field of American politics.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments  1. Making Sense of Class, Inequality, and American Political Consciousness 2. Rising Inequality in America: A History of Political and Economic Change 3. The Formation of Economic Consciousness 4. The Development of Economic Consciousness: A Closer Look 5. Economic Realism, American Exceptionalism, and their Impact on Attitudes and Voter Preferences 6. Class is a Five Letter Dirty Word: Or How the Media Fail to Cover Inequality 7. Inequality, Hegemony, and Media Effects on Public Opinion 8. The Economics of Disillusionment: Growing Resistance to Neoliberal Political-Economy in the 21st Century 9. Rebellion in America: Mass Protest, Inequality, and Sympathy for the Poor  Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

Why is there no socialism in the United States? DiMaggio’s landmark study, Unequal America, achieves the gold standard of theory and research, answering that question through careful review of survey data, interviews, considerations of American history, news media and recent social movements. His exhaustive analysis shows why Americans generally have little critical understanding of the class system, which is obscured by beliefs that most American are "middle class," that hard work leads to success, and that the poor live well. His analysis is a must read for all scholars, policy makers and activists concerned with understanding inequality and how to change it.

—Lauren Langman, Professor, Department of Sociology, Loyola University—Chicago

Author of God, Guns, Gold, and Glory: American Character and its Discontents

Amid the explosion of books now available on economic inequality, DiMaggio’s book is as sobering as it is provocative. Few studies look at how economic inequality shapes consciousness, but this book shows that false consciousness is an essential feature of capitalism and the inequality it breeds. DiMaggio provides us with something other scholars of inequality consistently overlook: that inequality creates its own system of justification, sealing it off from criticism and social change. His book is as rigorous as it is bold, and it is essential reading for anyone studying economic inequality. His political acumen is matched by his social scientific skill, and the result is a major step forward in our understanding of inequality.

—Michael J. Thompson, Professor of Political Science, William Paterson University

Author of The Politics of Inequality: A Political History of the Idea of Economic Inequality in America

From a strong theoretical base and using a mixed-method empirical approach, DiMaggio presents a comprehensive examination of the way Americans think about economic inequality. This volume offers a glimpse into the American mind, fully supported from both novel and previously available data and complete with discussion of the COVID-19 pandemic. Readers will find the results of his interviews compelling, in conjunction with the public opinion data that undergirds their depth and power. DiMaggio neatly weaves discussion of trends in public opinion about inequality with the reasons for it, as he creates an accessible narrative that will inspire readers to grapple with some of the core challenges of our time.

—Stephen Caliendo, Dean of College of Arts and Science, North Central College

Author of Inequality in America: Race, Poverty, and Fulfilling Democracy’s Promise

From the Publisher