Unequal chances : family background and economic success / edited by Samuel Bowles, Herbert Gintis, and Melissa Osborne Groves.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bowles, Samuel.

Gintis, Herbert.

Osborne Groves, Melissa.

Russell Sage Foundation.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Income distribution--Social aspects.

Income distribution.

Families--Economic aspects.

Families.

Inheritance and succession--Social aspects.

Inheritance and succession.

Equality--Psychological aspects.

Equality.

Social status--Psychological aspects.

Social status.

Social mobility--Psychological aspects.

Social mobility.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (315 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Is the United States "the land of equal opportunity" or is the playing field tilted in favor of those whose parents are wealthy, well educated, and white? If family background is important in getting ahead, why? And if the processes that transmit economic status from parent to child are unfair, could public policy address the problem? Unequal Chances provides new answers to these questions by leading economists, sociologists, biologists, behavioral geneticists, and philosophers. New estimates show that intergenerational inequality in the United States is far greater than was previously thought. Moreover, while the inheritance of wealth and the better schooling typically enjoyed by the children of the well-to-do contribute to this process, these two standard explanations fail to explain the extent of intergenerational status transmission. The genetic inheritance of IQ is even less important. Instead, parent-offspring similarities in personality and behavior may play an important role. Race contributes to the process, and the intergenerational mobility patterns of African Americans and European Americans differ substantially. Following the editors' introduction are chapters by Greg Duncan, Ariel Kalil, Susan E. Mayer, Robin Tepper, and Monique R. Payne; Bhashkar Mazumder; David J. Harding, Christopher Jencks, Leonard M. Lopoo, and Susan E. Mayer; Anders Björklund, Markus Jäntti, and Gary Solon; Tom Hertz; John C. Loehlin; Melissa Osborne Groves; Marcus W. Feldman, Shuzhuo Li, Nan Li, Shripad Tuljapurkar, and Xiaoyi Jin; and Adam Swift.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Introduction / Bowles, Samuel / Gintis, Herbert / Osborne Groves, Melissa

Chapter One. The Apple Does not Fall Far from the Tree / Duncan, Greg / Kalil, Ariel / Mayer, Susan E. / Tepper, Robin / Payne, Monique R.

Chapter Two. The Apple Falls even Closer to the Tree than We Thought / Mazumder, Bhashkar

Chapter Three. The Changing Effect of Family Background on the Incomes of American Adults / Harding, David J. / Jencks, Christopher / Lopoo, Leonard M. / Mayer, Susan E.

Chapter Four. Influences of Nature and Nurture on Earnings Variation / Björklund, Anders / Jäntti, Markus / Solon, Gary

Chapter Five. Rags, Riches, and Race / Hertz, Tom

Chapter Six. Resemblance in Personality and Attitudes Between Parents and their Children / Loehlin, John C.

Chapter Seven. Personality and the Intergenerational Transmission of Economic Status / Osborne Groves, Melissa

Chapter Eight. Son Preference, Marriage, and Intergenerational Transfer in Rural China / Feldman, Marcus W. / Li, Shuzhuo / Li, Nan / Tuljapurkar, Shripad / Jin, Xiaoyi

Chapter Nine. Justice, Luck, and The Family / Swift, Adam

References

Index

Notes:

Research from a workshop, "Persistent Inequality in a Competitive World," and from other projects funded by a grant from the Russell Sage Foundation to the Santa Fe Institute.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612608292

9781282608290

1282608290

9781400835492

1400835496

OCLC:

700686766