Middle Class Meltdown in America ― Causes, Consequences, and Remedies

In accessible prose for North American undergraduate students, this short text provides a sociological understanding of the causes and consequences of growing middle class inequality, with an abundance of supporting, empirical data. The book also addresses what we, as individuals and as a society, can do to put middle class Americans on a sounder footing.

Kevin T. Leicht is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at The University of Iowa. His research examines the relationship between globalization, economic change, and social inequality in a variety of contexts. His work has appeared in the American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces and the Academy of Management Journal and former editor of The Sociological Quarterly and Research in Social Stratification and Mobility. Currently he serves as President-Elect of the Midwest Sociological Society.

Scott T. Fitzgerald is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. His research examines social and economic inequality, social movements, public policy and religion and has appeared in Social Forces Mobilization: An International Journal Sociological Spectrum and Policy Studies Journal. He is currently the Political Sociology co-editor of Sociology Compass.