We know about the one percent. The ultra-rich. The billionnaire class. But author Richard Reeves writes it’s the upper middle class that matters most. Those top twenty percent of earners are becoming more effective at passing wealth to their children, and – through zoning laws, schooling, occupational licensing, college application procedures, and the allocation of internships – more effective at keeping others from getting it. In his new book, Dream Hoarders: How the American Middle Class is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That is a Problem, and What to Do About It, Richard Reeves argues that we can do much more to protect opportunity for all and prevent the United States from becoming the very class-based society that early Americans rebelled against.

The discussion will be moderated by Cybelle Fox of the UC Berkeley Sociology Department and Paul Pierson of the UC Berkeley Political Science Department.

This event is cosponsored by the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society.

Please register to secure your spot.

Friday, January 26, 1:00 pm
Banatao Auditorium, Sutardja Dai Hall, UC Berkeley
Please join us for a reception after the talk.

You can hear Richard talk about his book here and read about it in the Atlantic. He’s also written about how colleges deepen inequality, the politics of character, and the evolution of American marriage.

Richard Reeves is a senior fellow at Brookings, where he focuses on social mobility, inequality, and family change. He’s worked as director of strategy for the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister and was named one of America’s top fifty thinkers by Politico.

Cybelle Fox is associate professor of sociology at UC Berkeley. She specializes in race and ethnic relations, the welfare state, and historical and political sociology.

Paul Pierson is professor of political science at UC Berkeley. His research interests include American politics and public policy, comparative political economy, and social theory.