How Californians cope with the state’s staggering inequality

How Californians cope with the state’s staggering inequality

For their book “Normalizing Inequality,” two UC Berkeley professors spoke with dozens of Californians clinging to a middle-class lifestyle — seeking to understand how they make sense of living here.

How Californians cope with the state’s staggering inequality - Open Campus

California is perhaps the most economically unequal state in the country, boasting the highest poverty rate when living costs are taken into account as well as, according to Forbes, the highest number of billionaires. Yet it retains a reputation as a progressive bastion where equality is valued.  UC Berkeley sociology professors G. Cristina Mora and Tianna Paschel face this contradiction head on in their new book, “Normalizing Inequality.” It se…