Lecture series at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work to explore economic inequality in American society

Jan. 9, 2004 -- As part of Washington University's Sesquicentennial celebration, Mark R. Rank, Ph.D., the Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work (GWB), will host a lecture series titled "Exploring the Impact of Economic Inequality Upon American Society."

The series will kick off at 1:10 p.m. Jan. 21 with a lecture by Ichiro Kawachi, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology and director of the Harvard Center for Society and Health, on ""Why Inequality is Harmful to Your Health."

All lectures will be held in Brown Hall Lounge at 1:10 p.m. Other lectures in the series, which is free and open to the public, include:

• Feb. 5: Richard Rosenfeld, Ph.D., professor and chair of the department of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Missouri- St. Louis: "Understanding the Broader Context of American Crime";
• Feb. 19: Thomas Shapiro, Ph.D., the Pokross Professor of Law and Social Policy at Brandeis University's Heller School of Social Policy and Management: "How Wealth Perpetuates Racial Inequalities";
• Mar. 18: Claude Fischer, Ph.D., professor in the department of sociology at the University of California-Berkeley: "Where We Live: Separate and Unequal"; and
• Apr. 14: Larry May, Ph.D., professor in the department of philosophy at Washington University: "Exploring Our Moral and Collective Responsibilities."

"One of the defining characteristics of American society has been its exceeding high levels of economic inequality," says Rank.

"The United States currently has the highest income and wealth inequality in the industrialized world, with the gap widening over the past 30 years. These sharp levels of economic inequality represent one of America's most serious domestic problems. This lecture series offers a distinguished panel of academics who will explore the potential impact that this inequality has upon various aspects of American society."

Rank plans to edit a book on the topic of economic inequality in America based on the lecture series.

This series is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Human Values and GWB.

For more information, call Rank at 935-5694.