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Recommended Readings
Gornick, J. 2013. Income Inequality: Economic Disparities and the Middle Class in Affluent Countries. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. While income and wealth inequality across all populations is the primary focus, the contributions to this book pay special attention to the middle class. The research also casts important light on how economic inequality affects and is affected by gender disparities, labour markets, institutions, and politics.
Grusky, D. 2006. Inequality: Classic Readings in Race, Class, and Gender. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. The field of inequality emerged out of a classic set of texts that continue to be read and to inform ongoing research. This work brings together 20 classic readings in the field and provides an introduction to fundamental concepts, theories, and empirical results.
Svallfors, S. 2005. Analyzing Inequality: Life Chances and Social Mobility in Comparative Perspective. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. This book summarizes key issues in global inequality, addressing a broad range of international sociological issues. The chapters, each written by a distinguished social scientist, are of interest to both scholars and students.
Recommended Websites
National Geographic: “The New Face of Hunger”
www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/hunger
National Geographic sent photographers to document hunger in three different parts of the United States, “to give face to the same statistics: one-sixth of Americans don’t have enough food to eat.”
OECD Library
This website has information and statistics on various indicators of social equality for all members of the OECD, including Canada.
Tax Justice Network
This website, established in 2003, contains research, analysis, and advocacy on the topics of international tax and financial regulation, including information about existing tax havens.
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s website has lots of information about global inequality. It examines individual countries and data across regions.
World Bank
The World Bank’s data page includes economic statistics about countries all over the world. You can find more information about the Gini index here, as well as other indicators of economic well-being and social equality.
Recommended Films
The Price We Pay. 2014. Directed by Harold Crooks. Canada. This documentary examines the issue of tax avoidance and the use of tax havens by multinational corporations.
The Story of a T-Shirt. 2013. Produced by Alex Blumberg. This film tells the story of a simple T-shirt— from its manufacture to distribution—that shows how the world is tied together through flows of raw materials, labour, and finished goods in ways we would hardly imagine. http://apps.npr.org/tshirt/#/title
Swedish Dads. Enjoy Swedish photographer Johan Bavman’s documentary about fathers who elect to use Sweden’s parental leave program: www.johanbavman.se/swedish-dads
Why Poverty? The Why Foundation has videos about poverty as experienced in particular places around the globe. It also has some videos that look at the systemic, global forces that cause global inequalities. www.whypoverty.net