The Assets and Inequalities policy concentration will enable students to develop a theoretical and empirical understanding of the causes, manifestations and consequences of social and economic inequalities.

The Assets and Inequalities policy concentration will enable students to develop a theoretical and empirical understanding of the causes, manifestations and consequences of social and economic inequalities.

Scope

Students in the concentration will grapple with questions such as:

• What are the causes and consequences of social and economic inequalities associated with race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, immigration status, social class, and age?
• How are aging and disability, health, mental health and substance abuse, and children, youth, and family policies and programs shaped by current social and economic inequalities, and how may these programs and policies best contribute to reducing and eliminating such inequalities?

Further, students who elect this concentration will be expected to learn through participation in research that applies current theory, methods, and findings from multiple social science disciplines in multiple contexts to understanding and addressing the causes and consequences of inequalities in health and human services. Students will explore the organization of work as an outcome of social-structural inequalities linked to the root causes of oppression, as well as initiatives to develop humane and inclusive institutions.

Finally, students concentrating in Assets and Inequalities will thoroughly explore an Asset Framework for its promise and potential in understanding inequalities and providing new policy directions:

• An Asset Framework provides powerful tools to understand causes and consequences of inequalities associated with race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, immigration status, social class, and age.
• An Asset Framework explores policies of financial assets, and human, social, and cultural capital to best reduce and eliminate inequalities, build capacities for communities, families, and individuals, and promote human development.

The Institute on Assets and Social Policy

The concentration in Assets and Inequalities is based in the Institute on Assets and Social Policy. The Institute on Assets and Social Policy conducts its work through:

Policy Analysis

• Analyses of State Asset Policies. Conducts in-depth analyses of innovative state asset policies and practices and reports new developments and documented outcomes online for easy access by legislative leaders, governors, policy advocates, and community leaders.
• Enriches National Policy Debate. Holds briefings for federal officials and their staff to build awareness of an asset framework and highlight innovative policies and practices that have implications for national asset policy development.

Constituency Building

• Constituency Development. Partners with community leaders to convene meetings, and develops resource materials to advance economic opportunity by building awareness and support for asset policies and practices within their communities and organizations.
• Assists State and Local Asset Initiatives. Provides background materials, organizes briefings, and offers state-based information to assist citizen organizations and policy advocates in developing an asset-based policy agenda.

Research

• Measures of Asset Well-Being. Creates comparative measures to analyze policy impact and progress in improving asset well-being at the local, state and national levels.
• Primary Research. Identifies key areas for further research on asset development to be conducted through collaborative research grants and/or through Ph.D. dissertations.

Program of Study

The concentration emphasizes four core areas:

1. Causes of inequalities
2. Measurement of inequalities
3. Applied policy research to reduce inequalities
4. Social movements galvanized by inequalities or that seek to redress inequalities

Students in the concentration take a sequence of courses designed to move them in a natural and logical way from the root causes of inequalities, to the measurement of inequalities, to the manifestations of inequalities, to the evolution of programs, policies, and legal structures intended to reduce inequalities in the short run and to eventually eliminate them.