“We had to ask ourselves: How do we respond to complexity that was always there but is now heightened? What knowledge is relevant in practice, and how do we produce that knowledge for use in the practice world?”

Citing examples of recently-funded studies that aim to address systemic roots of inequality, Adam Gamoran calls on more researchers to look beyond individual programs and policies in their research: “If we wish to reduce inequality, it will not be enough to identify programs that compensate for built-in obstacles—we need to overturn the obstacles from the start.”

With this new grant to the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University, a team led by William A. Darity Jr. will investigate the effects of different configurations of Black reparations, gauging how these plans would shape the well-being of Black children, their families, and the broader economy.

What does it mean to study race, and how does the conceptualization of racial inequality undergird research on responses to inequality more broadly?

A new special collection of Socius, edited by Adam Gamoran, considers the contributions of sociology and the social sciences broadly, and points toward the potential for our research to do more to advance change and illuminate ways to respond to the challenge of inequality.