IPR at 40
National conference on inequality to mark anniversary

Fall, 2008, Volume 30, Number 2

Students stage a sit-in at Northwestern’s business office in 1968—the same year as IPR’s founding.

Forty years ago, America was in crisis. Student protests, riots, civil rights marches, the war in Vietnam, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy led many to believe that American society was on the brink of an urban and institutional meltdown.

In the midst of this social and political maelstrom, the Kerner Commission, led by then Illinois Gov. Otto Kerner, released its report, punctuated by a stark conclusion: “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.” Forty years later, to what extent has inequality changed in America?

This question encapsulates the theme of a two-day conference in April to mark the 40th anniversary of the Institute for Policy Research’s founding. Titled the “Dynamics of Inequality in America from 1968 to Today,” the conference will discuss the latest research findings on inequality in the areas of race, gender, health, cities, and politics.

From early—and ongoing—research on crime and poverty to later studies on housing, welfare, education, and health, IPR faculty have charted continuity and change in the various forms of inequality. They have shown how it operates, the ways in which it affects people’s lives, and the types of policies that can address it.

Fay Lomax Cook, the Institute’s fifth director, noted, “IPR’s 40th anniversary offers a unique moment to take stock of what we know about inequality. It will also demonstrate how IPR research has contributed to that knowledge base and chart a course for studying it in the years to come.” She is professor of human development and social policy at Northwestern.

Conference speakers are some of the nation’s leading scholars in their respective fields and include former and current IPR faculty members.  Among the confirmed speakers are Harvard sociologists Lawrence Bobo and Christopher “Sandy” Jencks, Brookings fellow Rebecca Blank, and Princeton political scientist Larry Bartels.

Five sessions will address various aspects of inequality research, with an eye to comparing what inequality looked like in the United States in 1968 and the progress—or lack thereof—made since, what current research has to say, and where the nation needs to go next in terms of research and policy.

	L. to r.: Former IPR fellows Rebecca Blank and Christopher Jencks answer questions with then Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala following her 1994 public policy lecture.

A Brief History of the Institute
IPR was founded in October of the 1968–69 academic year as the Center for Urban Affairs. With sociologist Raymond Mack, one of three faculty members, at the helm, the Institute quickly applied for, and received, the Ford Foundation grant that helped to launch it. Since then, the Institute has evolved into a center where 34 faculty fellows and 54 faculty associates from the departments of economics and sociology to law, medicine, and psychology join across two campuses to produce compelling, interdisciplinary research with practical applications on important policy issues. Grants have increased from the first Ford grant to 58 research grants from federal, state, and regional agencies and organizations in 2008.

The original Ford grant was a part of the foundation’s emphasis in the 1960s on funding research, training, and services to counter urban problems. In all, around a dozen research centers were established to study the major problems endemic to many cities—poverty, housing inequities, discrimination, and crime—at universities around the country, including the University of California, Berkeley, University of Chicago, Princeton University, University of Texas, and a joint center between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. Of those, only Northwestern’s center survives with its original mission intact.

Noted Cook, “While other Ford-funded centers have since vanished or changed their focus, IPR has remained committed to conducting and disseminating policy research on social issues, in part thanks to the University contributing annual support to the center that the Ford Foundation grant launched.

“IPR continues to flourish as a politically and socially relevant research center due in a large measure to our commitment to producing nonpartisan, interdisciplinary research,” Cook continued, “and to Northwestern’s unwavering support for excellence in social science research.”

The conference is free of charge and open to the public, but registration is required. For more information, please contact Ellen Whittingham, h-whittingham@northwestern.edu, 847-491-8704, or visit www.northwestern.edu/ipr/iprat40.