The next chapter of the new edited volume is titled “The Geography of Desperation in America: Labor Force Participation, Mobility, Place, and Well-Being” Contributors Carol Graham and Sérgio Pinto describe the rise of desperation and associate premature deaths and link it to lower geographical mobility, especially for less than college-educated whites. Despite worse objective conditions, Black and Hispanic respondents reported more hope for the future.

The introductory chapter for this volume is titled “Building Happier Cities” by Dr. Aubrilyn Reeder. She describes how people have been moving into cities in unprecedented numbers. This has also led private investors and development banks to be more interested in long-term infrastructure and real estate investments. This has presented an opportunity to build cities that enable social, environmental, and economic well-being for residents, workers, and visitors.

In her chapter “Race and Feminist Care Ethics: Intersectionality as Method,” Dr. Parvati Raghuram describes care as the things we do to maintain, contain, and repair our world. She defines our world as our bodies, ourselves, and our environment. Feminist ethics draw on women’s caring roles as the basis for thinking of care as a universal good.

In her chapter “Making Rights Rhetoric Work: Constructing Care in a Post-Liberal World,” Dr. Alison Brysk notes that the rhetoric surrounding human rights is based on an ethos, which she describes as a form of discourse that seeks to shape public action. The human rights ethos is the justification of human rights and their greater purpose, whether that be moral or pragmatic. Dr. Brysk sees human rights as essentially the idea that all humans have inherent and equal moral worth, that social orders exist to promote the humanity of their members, and that authority should be guided and bounded by its impacts on human dignity.

The next chapter we are looking at is “Dignity and Treating Others Merely as Means” by Samuel Kerstein. In it, he examines traditional Kantian interpretations of Kant’s Formula of Humanity. He then adds his own new perspective, which he calls KID. KID adds requirements to analyzing moral actions that make Kantian thought more applicable to modern philosophical questions such as physician-assisted suicide. He centers the idea of inherent human value, or dignity, and how interactions can respect or disrespect the personhood of others.

This week we are going back to the beginning of the volume. The first chapter is titled “Values and Human Rights: Implications of an Emerging Discourse on Virtue Ethics,” by Dr. Michael L Penn. It gives a generous overview of the ways that virtue ethics can interact with ideas of human rights conceptually and in practice. Since its conception in the 1950s, virtue ethics has drawn on Aristotelean thought and has developed a unique perspective when compared to other moral theories like deontology and utilitarianism.

Given the ongoing protests and struggles in Iran, I am beginning our read along with Prof. Mahmoudi’s chapter. It feels particularly relevant in our contemporary moment to discuss how women in Iran have and continue to strive for equality. The chapter is titled “Difficult Care: Examining Women’s Efforts in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” and examines the ongoing struggle of Iranian women since the 1979 revolution through the lens of care ethics.

For our next Edited Volume Read Along Series, I will cover “The Changing Ethos of Human Rights,” edited by Hoda Mahmoudi, Alison Brysk, and Kate Seaman. This volume explores how the discussion surrounding human rights has changed in recent years and the resulting ethical, moral, and intellectual shifts. It also particularly highlights Ethics-of-Care theories and the idea that human life has inherent value and dignity.

The final chapter of this volume is called “Forming a Racially Inclusive Sociological Imagination: Becoming a Racial Equity learner, Racial Equity Advocate, and Racial Equity Broker.” In it, Professor Rashawn Ray discusses the impact racism still has in our society and begins to propose actions and solutions we can take to move forward. He points out the vitality of Critical Race Theory and suggests three main ways individuals can work toward racial equity.

In her chapter "Forging Alliances, Seeking Justice: How Relatively Privileged Young People Imagine and Build Solidarity across Differences," author Dr. Beth Douthirt Cohen discusses student agency in interrupting racism and other forms of oppression. She talks about how young people, especially in a school context, can perpetuate or break structures that maintain systems of inequality. She describes how fighting for justice in a way that does not immediately benefit you, like white youth interrupting white supremacy in themselves and others, makes you feel connected to movements for justice.

Beginning Part II, the section titled “Systemic Racism and Education Inequality,” author Prudence L. Carter discusses the many challenges in addressing educational inequality. Her chapter called “Systemic Racism in Education Requires Multidimensional Solutions” analyses the multitude of sources of the “achievement gap” as well as offering a global approach to considering solutions. 

Students of color across the country do not have the same access to the same opportunities, resources, or securities. Interventions, therefore, cannot exist in only one area of their lives. Steps towards equity need to be taken in their school and extra-school environments, addressing everything from housing, community, wages, and healthcare, to underfunded schools, disproportionate suspensions and expulsions, and student and teacher discrimination. 

“Make America White Again: The Racial Reasoning of American Nationalism” by Matthew W. Hughey and Michael L. Rosino explores why white people are so enamored with Trump and his racial reasoning. In 2016 he received 58 percent of the white vote. Despite this, there are many who deny the relationship between Trump’s election and racially based backlash against the Obama presidency.