Jessica Calarco - Marginalized Groups and the Battle Against Inequities

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A deep and wide ranging conversation with sociologist Jessica Calarco, focusing on educational disparities, class privilege, and social inequities. Key topics included the hidden curriculum in schools, the role of community colleges, and tax policies aimed at economic equality. The conversation began with a focus on the gap between the privileged and the marginalized and the differences in class and race and what the research reveals as well as the question of the effect of inequities on immigrants, the ongoing influence of neoliberal Austrian economists beginning during the New Deal emerged as did the role of tech inequities in education. Charter schools were discussed in the context of inequities and so was the role of patriarchy and the need for a diverse educational workforce and overemphasis on ivy league schools. Professor Calarco also spoke of how she conducts her research and the role of both trade schools and community colleges. She critiqued corporate profit motives, worker exploitation, and the decline of labor unions, proposing policy measures like access to essential services and equitable care responsibilities. She also spoke of the consequences on education of Citizens United and provided Insights on paid leave and work-hour limits, with a preview of future research on evangelical Christianity's impact on social safety nets. She concluded with three core changes in policy to pursue to reduce inequities.