CGI U 2013 at Washington University in St. Louis

Mark R. Rank

Mark Rank

Mark R. Rank, PhD, the Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare at the Brown School, is one of the country’s foremost experts and speakers on issues of poverty, inequality and social justice. His research focuces on poverty, social welfare, economic inequality and social policy.

His 2004 book One Nation, Underprivileged: Why American Poverty Affects Us All, provided a new understanding of poverty in America. His life-course research has demonstrated for the first time that a majority of Americans will experience poverty and will use a social safety net program at some point during their lives.

His next work, along with collaborator Tom Hirschl, is Chasing the American Dream: Understanding the Dynamics that Shape Our Fortunes to be published in 2014. It will explore through a multi-methodological approach the nature of the American Dream, and the economic viability of achieving the dream. The book is designed to shed light on the tenuous nature of the American Dream in today’s society, and how to restore its relevance and vitality.

Learn more about Mark Rank on his faculty profile page.