How Inequality and Culture Collide: A Conversation with Two Sociologists

The United States today has higher levels of income and wealth inequality than it has since the Gilded Age. These forms of inequality have consequences for opportunity, social trust, and well-being. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 Pandemic has only exacerbated a number of these inequalities. While sociologists have been studying social inequality since the 19th century, more recent research has considered how inequality is perpetuated through parts of everyday culture, like the food we eat and the sports children play. In this conversation, two Skidmore sociologists, Professor John Brueggemann and Associate Professor Andrew Lindner ’03, discuss how inequality is an important reoccurring theme in their teaching and respective research on sustainable food cultures and participation in youth sports. John Brueggemann is Department Chair and Professor of Sociology. He earned his B.A. in sociology and anthropology from Earlham College. He received Masters and Ph.D. degrees in sociology from Emory University. His teaching and research interests revolve around social inequality, morality, food, and labor history. His most recent book (coauthored with his father, Walter Brueggemann) is entitled Rebuilding the Foundations: Social Relationships in Ancient Scripture and Contemporary Culture. He currently serves on the Saratoga Springs City School District Board of Education. Andrew M. Lindner is Associate Professor of Sociology. He received a B.A. from Skidmore College in sociology and psychology and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in sociology from The Pennsylvania State University. His primary teaching and research interests are mass media, politics, sociology of sport, and quantitative research methods. He is the co-author of All Media Are Social: Sociological Perspectives on Mass Media.