Toxic Inequality: How America’s Wealth Gap Destroys Mobility, Deepens the Racial Divide, and Threatens Our Future

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“Everyone concerned about the toxic effects of inequality should read this book.”–Robert B. Reich

“This is among the most thought-provoking books I have read on economic inequality in america.”–William Julius Wilson
Since the Great Recession, most Americans’ standard of living has stagnated or declined. Economic inequality is at historic highs. But inequality’s affect differs by race; African Americans’ net wealth is just a tenth that of white Americans, and over recent decades, white families have accumulated wealth at three times the rate of black families. In our more and more diverse nation, sociologist Thomas M. Shapiro argues, wealth disparities should be understood in tandem with racial inequities–a dangerous combination he terms “toxic inequality.”

In Toxic Inequality, Shapiro reveals how these forces combine to trap families in place. Following nearly two hundred families of different races and income levels over a period of twelve years, Shapiro’s research vividly documents the recession’s toll on parents and children, the ways families use assets to manage crises and create opportunities, and the real reasons some families build wealth whilst others struggle in poverty. The structure of our neighborhoods, workplaces, and tax code-a lot more than individual choices-push some forward and hold others back. A lack of assets, far more common in families of color, can incessantly ruin parents’ careful plans for themselves and their children.

Toxic inequality may seem inexorable, but it’s not inevitable. The usa’s growing wealth gap and its yawning racial divide have been forged by history and preserved by policy, and only bold, race-conscious reforms can move us toward a more just society.

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