Myths about the Powerless Contesting Social Inequalities

This collection examines the realities of social inequality, providing critical analyses of contemporary issues at the center of national debate—homelessness, the underclass, poverty, welfare, unemployment, health and mental health care, and gender and intercultural relations. A scholar and life-long activist, William Ryan's notions of "blaming the victim" and "fair shares vs. fair play" provide potent jumping-off points for the contributors' insights into the struggle for equality and social justice in the 1990s. Their call to unmask the underlying assumptions that sustain inequality offers a compelling challenge to the neoconservative strategy that dominates public debate and legislative agendas. Author note: M. Brinton Lykesis Associate Professor of Psychology, Boston College School of Education, and the co-editor of Gender and Personality: Current Perspectives on Theory and Research.Ali Banuaziziis Professor of Psychology at Boston College and the author of The New Geopolitics of Central Asia.Ramsay Liemis Professor of Psychology at Boston College and the co-author of Social Contexts of Health, Illness, and Patient Care.Michael Morrisis Professor of Psychology at the University of New Haven and the co-author of Poverty and Public Policy.