The anthology Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Social Class: Dimensions of Inequality frames scholarship on social inequality by including previously published research on the interplay between inequality and gender, class, race and sexuality in the USA today. It contains key writings from top scholars in the field, such as Joan Acker, Patricia Hill Collins, Gerda Lerner, Judith Lorber and Lynn Weber, among others. The compilation takes an intersectional approach to its themes and terms, seeking to explain how social categories interact to produce difference and privilege.
The book focuses on four dimensions of social inequality: race, class, gender and sexuality. It is organized by topic to show how social categories contribute to relationships of power in society through the analysis of cases of discrimination, oppression and other practices of social inequality. By using an intersectional approach, this edition differs from other books on inequality (Therborn, 2006). Intersectionality is an analytical tool used to understand dimensions of inequality and mechanisms of intersecting systems of power. It assumes that there are no autonomous and separated social categories – they interact, overlap and intertwine. While other edited collections using an intersectional lens contribute by illustrating different types of power and intervention (advocacy, analysis, theorizing and pedagogy) (Dill and Zambrana, 2009), this one has an important teaching component and adds multiple case-based examples on manifold aspects of inequality.
The volume is structured in five parts containing 64 readings. The first part includes classic pieces covering key concepts, historical viewpoints and theories around gender, class, disability, sexuality and race. The second part focuses on identity and the social construction of race, gender, sexuality and social class. The third part tackles the macro-level of society. It explores social institutions and the perpetuation of inequality by analyzing family, education, economy and employment, health care and medicine, media and politics and government. The fourth section unpacks power and privilege relationships, illustrating the history of stratification and segregation in the USA and the consequences of inequality. The final part engages with empowerment and social change, discussing various strategies to lessen the effects of social inequality. The contributions consider micro-, meso- and macro-levels of social change.
Susan Ferguson does a fine job as the editor of the collection, introducing each text and connecting the readings by topics in the five parts of the compilation. Each reading is preceded by a paragraph from the editor, providing information about the author and the scholar's affiliation, the source of the excerpt, the main idea of the text and how it relates to other readings. At the end of each reading, there are discussion questions for teaching and learning purposes.
The readings address the theme from distinct yet complementary perspectives, i.e. the compilation includes the work of scholars in Sociology, Psychology, Education, Economy, Political Science, Communication Studies and History. These diverse backgrounds and perspectives increase the breadth of the book. For example, in the second part, which focuses on identity, with subsections on identity formation, identity and social interaction and identity construction and stigma management, there are readings engaging with a psychological perspective while others take a structural and social standpoint to understand identity. Similarly, the cases embrace a variety of groups within the USA (Native Americans, white middle-class Americans, Asian Americans, Mexican Americans, Muslim and Arab Americans, homeless people, various age groups – pre-school, high school, youth, adults and the elderly –, homosexual and heterosexual normativity, etc.). The range of cases studied shows the ways in which intersections of race, class, gender and sexuality operate in both individual lives and communities.
I have a particular interest on intersectionality and work processes; therefore, I shall highlight the subsection on the economy and employment in part three of the book. This section analyzes social institutions and the perpetuation of inequality. It comprises three readings: “Inequality regimes: gender, class, and race in organizations” by Joan Acker, “Are Emily and Greg more employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A field experiment on labor market discrimination” by Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan and “Families on the frontier: from braceros in the fields to braceras in the home” by Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo.
Joan Acker's text (Reading 37) is essential to understand how inequalities are produced and reproduced in organizations. She uses the term “inequality regimes” to illustrate power differences within organizational class levels and how hierarchies are usually gendered and racialized in the USA. This is followed by Bertrand and Mullainathan's chapter (Reading 38) that explores racial discrimination in the labour market in the USA. The study suggests that employers use race as a factor when screening curriculum vitas, which ultimately tells us that employers are in fact materially complicit to the racialization of discrimination through workplace practices of recruitment. Hondagneu-Sotelo (Reading 39) describes new transnational family forms among Central American and Mexican immigrant women living and working in the USA, while their children and other family members remain in their countries of origin. The chapter problematizes gender, migration and work by discussing international divisions of social reproductive labor, meanings of family and motherhood and global trends in paid domestic work. These three readings tie together neatly, showing how social categories matter at work, from getting a job, working in an organization and in the daily work of social reproduction. The cases display unequal relations of power, helping us to understand how interactions among social categories (re)produce social inequalities. This subsection is an example of how the book presents a topic from different perspectives, including theory, case studies and testimonies.
Another relevant feature of the book is its teaching orientation. At the end of each of the five parts of the book, there are exercises and questions for students and links to media resources (e.g. videos, audio resources, online sources and journal articles). There is also a glossary at the end of the book with key concepts. In addition, this collection incorporates a password-protected instructor-teaching Web site and an open-access student study website with useful, challenging, diverse and practical supplementary materials (see www.sagepub.com/ferguson). For instructors, each chapter has test bank, PowerPoint slides, sample course syllabi, individual and group exercises and activities, video and audio links and web resources. For students, the book includes general resources with eFlashcards with > 135 definitions and chapter resources, covering quizzes, video links and web resources for each part of the book. This extraordinary material contributes usefully to learning and teaching on social inequality and identity.
A further strength of this volume is that it takes into account different learning styles and preferences by including diverse sources for understanding inequality, i.e. through readings, video and audio links, etc. This material will certainly help students make progress in reflecting upon and identifying social inequalities in their environment.
In sum, the book brings to the fore the ways in which social categories work together to understand inequality from an intersectional perspective rather than through discrete categories, integrating well discussions around intersectionality. However, despite the richness of the cases, the volume would have benefited from incorporating readings of social inequality from other parts of the world and engaging with international debates to highlight the multidimensionality of inequality both within and across countries. For example, the USA is more privileged than other parts of the world, though it has one of the highest levels of inequality among developed nations. Ultimately, the volume could have been further enriched with insights on social justice, for example, the work by Nancy Fraser.
I would recommend this volume to both scholars and students at undergraduate and graduate levels interested in understanding how intersections of social categories operate in individual lives and communities. The book compiles key readings from major scholars on social inequality providing a good reference source for its study from an intersectional perspective. I would also recommend exploring the auxiliary materials on the book website www.sagepub.com/ferguson, which are useful for teaching and learning on social inequality with innovative and updated visual material.
