KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 September 21, 2016 \u2013 Jefferson Cowie, the James G. Stahlman Chair in Vanderbilt University\u2019s Department of History, will speak Tuesday Oct. 4 at the 溏心vlog免费B站 Honors Colloquium, \u201cInequality and the American Dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cowie will offer historical perspectives on inequality at the free public lecture at 7 p.m. in Edwards Hall, 64 Upper College Road.<\/p>\n
The Nation\u00a0<\/em>magazine described Cowie as \u201cone of our most commanding interpreters of recent American experience.\u201d His most recent book,\u00a0The Great Exception: The New Deal and the Limits of American Politics,<\/em>\u00a0was released in early 2016 and attempts to reinterpret a wide swath of the American political history in the 20th<\/sup> century. Stayin\u2019 Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class<\/em>, received a number of \u201cbest book\u201d awards, including two of the profession\u2019s most prestigious:\u00a0the 2011 Francis Parkman Prize for the Best Book in American History and\u00a0the Merle Curti Award for the Best Book in Social and Intellectual History.<\/p>\n In addition to his scholarship, Cowie\u2019s essays and opinion pieces have also appeared in the\u00a0New York Times,\u00a0Chronicle of Higher Education, American Prospect, Politico, Democracy, The New Republic, Chicago Tribune, Inside Higher Ed, Dissent<\/em>,\u00a0and other popular outlets. \u00a0The recipient of several fellowships, including the American Council of Learned Societies and Andrew Mellon Foundation, and the Society for the Humanities at Cornell, he has also appeared in a variety of media outlets including C\u2010Span\u2019s Booknotes, NPR\u2019s Weekend Edition, as well as documentaries and radio broadcasts.<\/p>\n The Department of Marketing and Communications asked him a few questions about his work and his upcoming lecture:<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong> What specific topics or issues will you be addressing in your talk at 溏心vlog免费B站?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong> I\u2019ll be exploring the historical roots and contemporary politics of economic inequality in the United States. We\u2019ll ground the beginnings of the issue in the 1970s, and then move forward to try to understand the elusive roles inequality plays in politics\u2014or, more often than not, doesn\u2019t play. We\u2019ll end with reflections on the contemporary situation and the rise of the types backlash populism we see with the success of the Trump candidacy.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Q:<\/strong> In your Vanderbilt University biography you talk about a variety of influences in your life, including your father and his work as a school custodian. What did you learn from your father and how does he influence you today?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong> In some ways, I think I have a pretty good perspective on questions of inequality. My dad pushed a broom at my high school, we were renters, we moved a lot, and had a lot of economic instability. I also went to one of the greatest public universities in the world (UC Berkeley for cheap). But I could see it was different for different people, and that most people tended to assume their class position was the normal one. Since I crossed class boundaries as a kid\u2014and certainly in my adult life\u2014I think I might have a bit more cultural fluency than some who study these questions from a more pure academic position.<\/em><\/p>\n Q:<\/strong> Statistical data indicate a massive widening of the income gap. What effect can this gap have on the U.S. economy if left unchecked? Is there a way to narrow the income gap?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong> There are economic problems: sluggish demand, too much wealth accumulating at the top, too much credit, low wages, etc, but there are also a host of other issues that are correlated with inequality from unhappiness to pregnancy to drug use. So it is an issue with multiple dimensions. As for solutions, there are a number of approaches from fiscal policy to trade unions to tax policy to changing the culture of what we find acceptable. The first step is to not see this as all an inevitable outcome of globalization. That attitude defeats everything and anything from the outset.<\/em><\/p>\n