“In a wonderfully accessible, down-to-earth style, Udis-Kessler deftly reveals the everyday cultural processes that produce and reproduce anti-Black racism, sexism, and heterosexism. This important book not only uncovers the multiple ways that our actions and institutions contribute to inequality, but also challenges us to envision more equitable choices.” (Dr. Wayne Brekhus)

“…essential reading for anyone concerned with the social patterns that lead to human and ecological devaluation…” (Dr. Warren Blumenfeld)

“A timely, provocative, and student-friendly analysis of the disturbing processes by which some people are perceived and treated as mattering less than others. Grounded in data and anecdotes, this insightful commentary reveals much about our unhealthy social conditions…” (Dr. William Marsiglio)

“This is a great manuscript that students will find compelling and interesting to read…This book should find its way into every university library.” (Dr. Kirk Johnson)

Cultural Processes of Inequality: A Sociological Perspective shows how inequality is produced and reproduced through mundane, routine actions based on taken-for-granted assumptions about who should be treated well and who ‘deserves’ to be treated poorly. Members of socially valued groups (such as white people and men) tend to receive the benefit of the doubt both personally and institutionally, while members of socially devalued groups tend to be denied the benefit of the doubt in both kinds of contexts. This straightforward way of thinking about value and devaluation, privilege and discrimination, works across multiple forms of inequality and at social levels ranging from interpersonal interactions to large-scale institutions, while showcasing the importance of different levels and types of social power (decision-making, cultural and individual). Moral exclusion and inclusion, moral alchemy, false equivalencies, self-fulfilling prophecies, positive and negative visibility and invisibility and the linking of social groups to definitions of social problems are among the processes discussed. Contemporary U.S. examples show how these often-underutilized sociological concepts make sense of specific kinds of inequality. The book includes concrete suggestions for social change, an appendix introducing sociology and discussion questions for students.