For most people, the act of thinking is second nature. However, one Duke faculty member has taken this mental operation to a whole new level, according to Politico magazine.
William Darity Jr., Samuel DuBois Cook professor of public policy and a founding director of the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity, was recently honored as one of Politico's top 50 key thinkers of 2017 for his work targeting unemployment. He shared the award with Darrick Hamilton, associate director of the Samuel DuBois Cook Center.
“It’s really gratifying to have work that I have been pursuing for quite a while to get the acknowledgment and recognition that this award represents,” Darity said.
The award honored thinkers, doers and visionaries who have transformed politics and policy in 2017. Darity joined a bipartisan list of recipients that includes Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russia's meddling in the 2016 election.
Darity’s recognition is based on his proposal for a federal job guarantee program that ensures government-provided jobs to all Americans over 18 years of age. His research centered around eliminating the phenomenon of working poverty and reducing involuntary unemployment.
Darity said his decade-long endeavor to create the job guarantee has been motivated by his concerns about unfair economic inequality and the intersection between poverty and unemployment.
“I think virtually all Americans want a decent standard of living," he said. "And [if] they are eager to perform the work to obtain that decent standard of living, it’s vital that we provide them with the opportunity to do that."
The Democratic Party once endorsed a job guarantee program before abandoning it in the 1980s. But the proposal has gained new steam as Representative John Conyers (D-MI) recently introduced a bill calling for the guarantee.
A decent standard of living is surely something desirable for the more than 43 million people living in poverty in the United States—many of whom are disproportionately people of color, as Darity cites in a recent proposal.
In his interview with Politico, Darity explained that reducing unemployment could also have major health benefits, like reducing rates of depression and suicide.
“Don’t underestimate the human costs associated with unemployment,” he told the magazine.
Although Politico honored his work with the wage guarantee, Darity has also recently focused on other issues.
In a prior interview with The Chronicle, Darity spoke about his recently published book "For-Profit Universities: The Shifting Landscape of Marketized Higher Education." Among his arguments was the idea that for-profit universities tend to take advantage of those who are disadvantaged in terms of race, class or gender.
"What happens is that the for-profit universities prey upon those members of our national community who have the least resources but the greatest determination to get additional education," he said during the conversation. "In a way, they’re preying upon people who are highly-motivated to pursue additional schooling, but who typically don’t have a great deal of money."
Several students expressed their enthusiasm for Darity as both a researcher and professor. Junior Christiana Oshotse noted that she instantly felt the payoff when she took one of his classes.
“He challenges thought," she said. "He chose readings that were so thoughtful and that challenged our expectations, opinions and values.”
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Hamilton is currently associate director of the Samuel DuBois Cook Center and not the center's Research Network on Racial and Ethnic Inequality.
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