The Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity is a scholarly collaborative that studies the causes and consequences of inequality and develops remedies for these disparities and their adverse effects.
After Maryland’s proposed bill to study reparations was vetoed, Founding Director William A. “Sandy” Darity Jr., Ph.D. shared his perspective with The Washington Post, emphasizing that while the bill’s aim was commendable, state-level efforts are fundamentally insufficient. Based on the research Dr. Darity and his colleagues have conducted on the racial wealth gap, the amount…
Founding Director William A. “Sandy” Darity Jr., Ph.D., appears in the new short film The Fire This Time, which explores the historical links between pandemics and social unrest. Directed by award-winning filmmaker and artist Mariam Ghani, The Fire This Time weaves together archival and contemporary footage to examine the social reverberations of major pandemics, drawing…
Faculty Affiliate Nancy MacLean, Ph.D. was quoted in opinion article assessing the strategies behind Project 2025 based on her analysis in her 2017 book, Democracy in Chains. Her book identifies traces how Charles Koch and his network have redirected capitalism away from public regulation to allow a wealthy minority to rule. As Ned Barnett writes…
Since beginning in the mid-2010s, the Cook Center has steadily and robustly developed its research, programming, multimedia, and educational activities. In just its first decade of operations, the Center already has created a host of different working groups that have written and disseminated innumerable reports and academic papers, developed a minor in inequality studies in conjunction with the Duke History department, published multiple books, launched a podcast, and created and sustained programs to support young scholars and tenure-track researchers.
