The Inequality Machine
  • Published: 5 April 2021
  • ISBN: 9781784756376
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 432
  • RRP: $39.99

The Inequality Machine

How universities are creating a more unequal world - and what to do about it

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EBook
4 Feb 2021
EBook
19 Sep 2019
Paperback
5 Apr 2021
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A damning exposé of how the university system ingrains privilege and injustice at every level of American society.

'Indelible and extraordinary, a powerful reckoning with just how far we've allowed reality to drift from our ideals.' Tara Westover, New York Times Book Review

We're told that universities are our greatest driver of social mobility. But it's a lie.

The Inequality Machine is a damning exposé of how the university system ingrains injustice at every level of American society.

Paul Tough, bestselling author of How Children Succeed, exposes a world where small-town colleges go bust, while the most prestigious raise billions every year; where overstretched admissions officers are forced to pick rich candidates over smart ones; where black and working-class students are left to sink or swim on uncaring campuses. Along the way, he uncovers cutting-edge research from the academics leading the way to a new kind of university - one where students succeed not because of their background, but because of the quality of their minds.

The result is a call-to-arms for universities that work for everyone, and a manual for how we can make it happen.

'Humanizes the process of higher education . . . Fascinating stories about efforts to remediate class disparities in higher education' New Yorker
  • Published: 5 April 2021
  • ISBN: 9781784756376
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 432
  • RRP: $39.99
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About the author

Paul Tough

Paul Tough is the author of Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America and the author of a series of acclaimed articles on character and childhood in the New York Times Magazine and the New Yorker. He is a contributing editor to the New York Times Magazine and a frequent contributor to the public-radio program This American Life. He lives with his wife and son in New York.

portrait photo of Paul Tough

Also by Paul Tough

Helping Children Succeed
How Children Succeed
See all

Praise for The Inequality Machine

Indelible and extraordinary, a powerful reckoning with just how far we’ve allowed reality to drift from our ideals. It’s difficult to overstate the importance of higher education to the present moment.

Tara Westover, New York Times Book Review

[An] important new book on the broken promises of higher education . . . heart-rending.

New York Times

In this fascinating study, education journalist Tough argues persuasively that access to an elite college education, which in the US is popularly believed to be a meritocratically distributed social equalizer, is in fact distributed in ways that reinforce existing economic divisions . . . This well-written and persuasive book is likely to make a splash.

Publishers Weekly

[A] readable kiss-and-tell study . . . Tough finds that higher education, which has the potential to increase upward mobility, has become an obstacle that perpetuates social rigidity. The poor remain poor and the rich get richer . . . this study is laced with deep anger

Times Higher Education