Inequality Studies, a Way to ‘Better Understand Policies to Drive Social Change’
The inequality studies minor at Duke, a collaboration between the Samuel Dubois Cook Center on Social Equity and the Department of History, aims to offer new ways for undergraduates to research and study inequality. “We’re interested in teaching students how to research and write in ways that help people better understand issues of inequality and better understand policies to drive social change,” said Adam Hollowell, director of the minor.
The inequality studies minor graduated its first cohort last spring.
Taught by scholars studying a range of topics – from the racial wealth gap to health disparities – it provides a complex understanding of inequality, said Hollowell.
“We look at the ways economists and other theorists have spoken about inequality and tried to understand its effect on the world,” he said. “And we look at forms of resistance from oppressed and marginalized communities as they have pushed back on the structures of inequality that were present in the world that they occupied.”
Undergraduate Drew Greene said that his interest in the minor began with a first-year seminar of Hollowell’s, “Education as Liberation.” He called the seminar “transformative,” adding, “it challenged my preconceived notions about society.”
Greene said his high school experience in Richmond, Va., piqued his interest in studying education, but conversations at Duke about topics such as the school-to-prison pipeline led him to focus more on equity in education.
“I attended a relatively wealthy public high school in my county. The challenges my school faced seemed minor compared to the disparities seen at other schools just 20 minutes down the road,” he said. “My understanding of society is limited by my own experiences. The inequality studies classes have presented a space to learn about the many topics I was unfamiliar with.”
