Inequality researchers study the distribution of income, wealth, education, status, prestige, power, or other desired social goods, often (though not exclusively) by race, class, or gender. Long the core of sociology, inequality has emerged as a major research focus at Cornell as well. Recent projects by faculty look at the sources of rising income inequality; social classes and their consequences for life chances, political behaviors, and social attitudes; rural and childhood poverty; EEOC claims and the organizational context of gender and racial inequality; race and class differences in educational transitions; the impact of school funding and affirmative action policies; racial segregation and residential mobility; labor market discrimination against mothers; and contemporary forms of immigrant assimilation.

Resources for the study of inequality on campus include the Center for the Study of Inequality (housed on the 3rd floor of Uris Hall), the Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center, the Department of Policy Analysis and Management, and the ADVANCE grant on women and minorities in science and engineering.