• Identify the key concepts and propositions associated with the theoretical approaches that are studied;
• Critically discuss these theoretical approaches with a clear understanding of differences and relationships between them;
• Identify the principal features of relevant empirical examples;
• Relate theories to empirical cases;
• Draw upon the theoretical approaches so as to pose, discuss and answer research questions in inequality studies

The course considers the study of inequality across the globe. It draw on approaches from Sociology, Economics and International Political Economy so as to understand the contemporary dynamics of social stratification on a global scale. The course asks how we can conceptualise, understand and explain new patterns of inequality, including the ways in which differences in income and wealth are generated across different spatial and governance scales and across different organizational and group entities. It looks at well-known as well as emerging patterns in the distribution of income and wealth; it addresses explanations for changing distributional dynamics and looks at the political-economic and institutional foundations for current forms of inequality in a global world. The course also points to a series of methodological challenges that students must address in order to grasp the complex stratification dynamics at play in the global political economy and introduces to novel and innovative methods for studying them.

The course is part of theInequality Studies minor. It can be taken as a component of the minor or on a free - standing basis.

There is no textbook for the course. The readings consist of journal articles, papers, and book chapters, made available on Learn or to be downloaded from the Internet or via the CBS Library