Description
When Americans conceptualize freedom, they often disproportionately focus on negative freedom, or freedom from government constraint-being told what they cannot say, which religion they cannot practice, where they cannot move, etc. By this measure, Americans are remarkably free.However, such a conceptualization of freedom is incomplete without including notions of positive freedom--possession of agency, to be able to think and act autonomously in pursuit of one's desired life. Positive freedom unlocks agency through more than the absence of something, but the presence of something else--the conditions which enable people's development of their abilities and access to crucial resources and opportunities.If we measure the freedom of Americans by positive freedom measures, we are falling behind our perceived status. In On Inequality and Freedom, a diverse group of authors discuss how a variety of contemporary American inequalities-from racial, economic, and gender, to health, environmental, and political inequalities-actually limit American freedom, regardless of how much negative freedom we possess. This book provides readers with a deeper understanding of what true freedom is and concrete steps toward restoring it.
Table of Contents
Introduction1. Introduction: Expanding the Meaning of FreedomLawrence M. Eppard and Henry A. Giroux2. Freedom has been WeaponizedRaoul Martinez3. Structural Violence and Structural AwarenessBandy LeePART I: COVID-19, Inequality, and Freedom4. Normalizing Inequality in the Age of COVID-19Henry Giroux5. A Tale of Two Pandemics: Freedom and Environmental Justice in a Time of COVID 19Michael Mascarenhas6. We Can See Clearly Now: Inequality and the Covid-19 PandemicMichael YatesPART II: Poverty, Economic Inequality, and Freedom7. Inequality, Violence, and FreedomMartin Daly and D.B. Krupp8. A Structural Vulnerability Understanding of American PovertyMark Rank9. Child Poverty: Europe versus the U.S.Jonathan Bradshaw10. Poverty and FreedomDavid Brady11. Poverty, Politics, and Perspective: A View of Political Failure from AppalachiaJim White12. Identity, Meritocracy, and the Unique Challenges of Human FreedomPeter CalleroPART III: Race, Gender, Sexualities, and Freedom13. White Privileges and Black BurdensJoe Feagin and Kimberley Ducey14. The Paradox, Contradictions, Interdependencies, and Stark Realities of Inequality and FreedomNancy DiTomaso15. Inequalities in the Criminal Justice System at the Intersection of Race and EthnicityCarlos E. Rojas-Gaona and Arelys Madero-Hernandez16. Let Me Fight Your BattleHilarie Burton Morgan17. Women in the Man-Made CityCarla Corroto18. Grinding the Gears of Ideology: Interpellation and Gender in Us Weekly and The Bell JarLuke Ferretter19. The Question of Queer and Trans Positive Freedom in the U.S.Ecem E. Ece, Robert Baez, and K. L. Broad20. Truth and Freedom: The Debate over Unauthorized Immigrants and CrimeAlex Nowrasteh, Andrew C. Forrester, and Michelangelo LandgravePART IV: Freedom in Other Domains21. Grievance Media: How Two Sets of 'News' Hampers DemocracyAlison Dagnes22. Social Media and the Collapse of American Public LifeYevgeny Simkin23. Disability, Ableism and the Production of InequalityAllison Carey24. The Obsolescence of Freedom? Inequality, Symbolic Violence and the Ongoing Dilemma of American EducationDan Schubert and Elizabeth C. Lewis25. Constituting, Empowering, and Stratifying Individuals: Education as an Institution in Modern World CultureDavid Monaghan26. Environmental Justice: The Struggle ContinuesRobert CavazosPART V: Parting Thoughts27. Social Welfare, Democratic Citizenship, and FreedomDeondra Rose28. On Government, Agency, and the Violence of InactionLawrence Eppard with Noam Chomsky
