Forbes reports that the richest 1 percent of the world's population owns nearly half the world's wealth, and the gap between the richest and poorest of the world only continues to increase. Deep Inequality looks behind these stark statistics to understand not only wealth inequality but also rising disparities in other elements of life-from education to the media. The authors argue that inequality has become so pervasive that it is the new normal. When we do recognize troubling inequality, we look at individual or small-scale problems without understanding the broader structural issues that shape the economy, the global political system, and more. Only by understanding the structural forces at play can we recognize the deep divisions in our society and work for meaningful change. Deep Inequality explains the changing landscape of inequality to help readers see society in a new way.

Earl Wysong is professor of sociology at Indiana University Kokomo. He is a past president of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences and author of High Risk and High Stakes.

Robert Perrucci is professor of sociology at Purdue University, a past president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and former editor of the American Sociologist, Social Problems, and Contemporary Sociology.

Together they are the authors of the award-winning book The New Class Society: Goodbye American Dream?