Book Review

Co-author Book Review
Marzieh Javadi Arjmand, Ata Karimnejad

America Unequal
Authors: Danziger, Sheldon / Gottschalk, Peter
Year: 1995
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 0-674-01811-7

About the Authors:

Dr. Danziger is a research professor and director of National Poverty Center, Research and Training Program on Poverty and Public Policy in the University of Michigan. His area of interest includes trends in poverty and equality and the effects of economic and demographic changes, government social programs and disadvantaged groups. His recent publications are:
Cancian, Maria, and Sheldon H. Danziger. 2009. Changing Poverty, Changing Policies. Russell Sage. Abstract. Publisher Link .
Danziger, Sheldon H., and Cecilia Elena Rouse. 2007. The Price of Independence: The Economics of Early Adulthood. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Abstract.
Blank, Rebecca M., Sheldon H. Danziger, and Robert F. Schoeni. 2006. Working and Poor: How Economic and Policy Changes Are Affecting Low-Wage Workers. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Abstract.
Danziger, Sheldon H., and Peter Gottschalk. 2004. Diverging Fortunes: Trends in Poverty and Inequality. Russell Sage Foundation and Population Reference Bureau. Abstract.
Danziger, Sheldon H., and Robert Haveman. 2002. Understanding Poverty. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Abstract.
Danziger, Sheldon H., and Ann Chih Lin. 2000. Coping With Poverty: The Social Contexts of Neighborhood, Work and Family in the African-American Community. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Abstract.
Danziger, Sheldon H., and Jane Wadfogel. 2000. Securing the Future: Investing in Children from Birth to College. New York: Russell Sage. Abstract.

Farley, Reynolds, Sheldon H. Danziger, and Harry J. Holzer. 2000. Detroit Divided. Russell Sage. Abstract.
Danziger, Sheldon H. 1999. Economic Conditions and Welfare Reform. Kalamazoo, MI: Upjohn Institute. Abstract.

Journal Articles:

Danziger, Sheldon H., Davis, M.M., S. Orzol, and H.A. Pollack. 2008. "Health insurance and access to care among welfare leavers." Inquiry-the Journal of Health Care Organization Provision and Financing, 45(2): 184-197. Worldcat.

Dr. Peter Gottschalk, the co-author of this book is a senior research affiliate at National Poverty Center, University of Michigan. He is also research affiliate at the Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin and research associate at the Center for Retirement Research, Boston College. His research interest includes labor economics and human resource economics.

Review and Analysis:



This book, America Unequal (1995), shows us how “American dream” has not come true, as the writer contends that Americans have had hard “economic times” since 1970s. Before this turning point, people were highly optimistic about their children’s future, but the way history wove the threads of events showed us that poverty and inequality of incomes increased.
After the disastrous Second World War, there came an economic boom during which most of the people were employed with remarkable wages; however, this pattern reversed after the 1970s.


The author places his diagnosis on the issues regarding technological advances, globalization of markets, and structural changes in the body of economic system which put a division between low-skilled and high-skilled workers. He believes that the Republican’s “Contract with America” compounded the problem and helped widen the gap between privileged citizens and those who are not.


According to Danziger and Gottschalk, measures taken by the government, in order to combat the existing economic situation, have not been successful, thus the way, Danziger says, to get over the devastating outcomes of the above mentioned issues is “to adjust public and private sectors to changes in economic environment.”


Then a series of diverse plans and policies were introduced during 1960s-1990s. The second chapter centers on the policies adopted in the last four decades to reduce poverty. “War on Poverty” being the major plan of the era, introduced by President Johnson during 1960s, is originated form two strategies which have been dominant since the 1930s: The income transfers and employment programs. Johnson’s inefficient plan faced failure because, as some critics note, of the “throwing money at the problem” strategy. The last of the introduced policies were that of Clinton’s emphasizing antipoverty programs which did not achieve the desired efficacy due to objections constantly put forward by a Republican majority Congress which, at that time, had its mind locked on “government-is-the-problem” view of Reagan administration.


Danziger and Gottschalk go another step further by providing the readers with chapters revolving around arithmetical/statistical information and analyses trying to approach the problems of society in a more new-fashioned technical way. According to Danziger, there are multiple deficiencies regarding the measurement of family income methods such as: they seem to be ignorant of the rapid population growth rate, and they do not consider “decline in average family size.”
Another interesting situation is disclosed by the authors which is the delicate paradox in the 1980s economic situation. Despite the increase in family income, the inequality did not decrease. Based on the wrong assumptions, Danziger believes, the government of the post 1983 could not remove the problem of income inequality.


Regarding the different demographic groups categorized by age, sex, race and ethnicity, findings indicate that they were exposed to identical economic parameters although their standards of living drastically differed from one another. There’s a difference in standards of living comparing two periods as we distinguish as old and new. In the old one, young adults earned more than the old which turned out to be quite the opposite in the following period. Moreover, a fixed pattern in income inequality came into being which put the whites over other ethnic groups, married couples over single-parent headed families.


Demographic and economic factors are introduced as reasons for poverty remaining high. The period between 1949- 1969, also known as baby boom period, is being held as an important demographic factor, in this regard. Other alterations such as slow income growth, rising inequality and more demographic changes, which have taken place during 1973- 1991, are again among culprits leading to later poverty. The authors of this book; however, call out a number of changes regarding economic factors which are believed to have contributed to the status quo of poverty. Changes in distribution of earnings of family heads, changes in the distribution of earnings of other family members, and changes in the distribution of all sources of income are among them.


There is another perspective concerning the economic history of the United States; that is to bring into focus the changes in the labor market. Labor market has been flexible toward some changes throughout its recent past. First of them is considered to be because of inequality in men’s earnings during 1973- 1991. The other is technological changes and finally the ultimate transition in the industrial market into service sector. These changes, consequently, are to leave footsteps in individuals’ lives. So many people lost their jobs in manufacturing industry and had to choose one among low wage jobs in service sector.
Results from so many surveys have conveyed that from 1980s onward the trend in equality of earnings has been stable but inequality, both inequality between groups and inequality within groups, has not showed signs of falling.


Regarding the increase of the inequality of earnings, Danziger and Gottschalk contend: “mechanisms are important; if we understand the casual mechanisms, we could predict whether inequality would continue to increase or whether it would return to the level of the 1970s. An understanding of the causes of the slow growth and increased inequality of earnings can also inform public policy.”
There is an economic theory on inequality of earning which indicates that once there is a competition in any market place, a following allocation of resources will be inevitable and therefore technological advancement will be encouraged. However, obviously efficiency does not equal to equity. “There is nothing about a market economy that ensures that a rising standard of living will be accompanied by reduced inequality.”


Inequality of earnings seems to have enjoyed a remarkable increase in the 1980s which was triggered by employers hiring more educated workers.
The authors allocate the final chapter of this book, America Unequal, to antipoverty plans undergone in American History. The discussion continues giving a taste of what has been carried out to narrow down, or even terminate, the existing gap between the ever-growing rich and the poor. There have been attempts in this dimension starting from the declaration of “War on Poverty” to 1988 family Support Act and so on. But nothing ever done seemed to have been able to create dramatic changes in the so called domestic economic affairs.


"The planners of the ‘War on Poverty’ expected that the combination of rapid economic growth and antipoverty policies would raise the incomes of those families who were still outside the economic mainstream” and would help raise the people at the bottom of the income scale to the top and therefore put an end to inequality, but the oil embargo of the 1973 and the following three economic recessions over nine years made it a mere dream.


Sheldon H. Danziger and Peter Gottschalk in their book America Unequal try to get an important message across; the fact that economic forces, or one might incline to say determinism, have put frames to the dream of millions of Americans. This book, through so many graphs and scientific analyses depicts why is it that even major economic programs are impotent of making a drastic improvement addressing all the existing classes in the American society.