Skip to main content
Penn State Harrisburg
Hotline Visit Apply Give
  • Academics
    • Undergraduate Degrees
    • Graduate Programs
  • Admissions and Financial Aid
    • Office of Admissions
    • Tuition and Financial Aid
  • Research
  • Information For
    • Future Students
    • Parents & Families
    • Alumni & Supporters
    • Current Students
    • Faculty & Staff
    • Workforce Professionals
Full site navigation menu

This dialog contains the full navigation menu for this site.

Penn State Harrisburg
Enter the terms you wish to search for.
Search type:
Hotline Visit Apply Give
  • This is Penn State
    • Vision, Mission and Values
    • Diversity and Inclusion at Penn State Harrisburg
    • Outreach and Economic Development Services
    • Board of Advisers
    • Administration
    • Chancellor's Office
  • Academics
    • Undergraduate Degrees
    • Graduate Degrees
    • Minors
    • Graduate or Postbaccalaureate Certificates
    • Integrated Undergraduate/Graduate Degrees
    • Education Certifications and Endorsements
  • Admissions
  • Tuition & Financial Aid
  • Research
  • Athletics
  • Student Life

Find Information For:

  • Future Students
  • Parents & Families
  • Alumni & Supporters
  • Current Students
  • Faculty & Staff
  • Workforce Professionals

Helpful Links

  • Contact Us
  • Give Today
  • Directory
  • Events Calendar

Connect With Us

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • flickr
  • youtube
  • instagram
  1. Home
  2. The Division of Student Affairs

Penn State Harrisburg Reads

The Broken Ladder - Book Cover

Penn State Harrisburg Reads is a program designed to provide a shared experience among students who read the same book while also creating a campaign that fosters dialogue and engagement about the concepts introduced in the book for the campus at large. For 2021-2022, we will read The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die by Dr. Keith Payne.

The levels of inequality in the world today are on a scale that have not been seen in our lifetimes, yet the disparity between rich and poor has ramifications that extend far beyond mere financial means. In The Broken Ladder psychologist Keith Payne examines how inequality divides us not just economically; it also has profound consequences for how we think, how we respond to stress, how our immune systems function, and even how we view moral concepts such as justice and fairness.

Research in psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics has not only revealed important new insights into how inequality changes people in predictable ways but also provided a corrective to the flawed view of poverty as being the result of individual character failings. Among modern developed societies, inequality is not primarily a matter of the actual amount of money people have. It is, rather, people's sense of where they stand in relation to others. Feeling poor matters—not just being poor. Regardless of their average incomes, countries or states with greater levels of income inequality have much higher rates of all the social maladies we associate with poverty, including lower than average life expectancies, serious health problems, mental illness, and crime.

The Broken Ladder explores such issues as why women in poor societies often have more children, and why they have them at a younger age; why there is little trust among the working class in the prudence of investing for the future; why people's perception of their social status affects their political beliefs and leads to greater political divisions; how poverty raises stress levels as effectively as actual physical threats; how inequality in the workplace affects performance; and why unequal societies tend to become more religious. Understanding how inequality shapes our world can help us better understand what drives ideological divides, why high inequality makes the middle class feel left behind, and how to disconnect from the endless treadmill of social comparison.

Keith Payne

About the Author: Keith Payne is a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an international leader in the psychology of inequality and discrimination. His research has been featured in The Atlantic and The New York Times, and on NPR, and he has written for Scientific American and Psychology Today

Resource Guide: Information about upcoming programs, contests, and recommended additional reading, watching, and listening. 

 

 

 

Activities and Events  at Penn State Harrisburg

Book Clubs

Book clubs will form in Spring 2022. Please check back for updates soon.

The Division of Student Affairs

  • Displaying Posters, Flyers, Advertisements, and Banners On-Campus
  • Olmsted Lobby Usage Guidelines
  • Outdoor Areas for Expressive Activities
  • Student Initiated Fee
    • Student Activity Fund
    • Student Facilities Fund
  • Penn State Harrisburg Reads
  • Child Care Subsidy Program

See Also

  • Area Transportation Info
  • Staff Directory
Pennsylvania map showing Penn State campuses with Penn State Harrisburg highlighted

Penn State Harrisburg

A comprehensive college in southcentral Pennsylvania offering more than 70 undergraduate and graduate programs.
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • flickr
  • youtube
  • instagram
Visit Apply Give
  • This is Penn State
    • Administration
    • Vision, Mission and Values
    • Board of Advisors
    • Outreach and Economic Development Services
  • Academics
    • Undergraduate Degrees
    • Graduate Degrees
    • Academic Calendar
  • Admission
    • Office of Admissions
    • Housing Options
    • Veterans
  • Tuition & Financial Aid
    • Office of Student Aid
    • Bursar's Office
  • Research
    • Office of Research and Outreach
    • Harrisburg LaunchBox
  • Student Life
    • Office of Student Life
    • Student Affairs
    • Student Initiated Fee
  • Community Safety & Health
    • University Police and Public Safety
    • PSUAlert
    • Weather Policy
Penn State University
777 West Harrisburg Pike, Middletown, PA 17057 717-948-6000

Footer Legal Menu

  • Privacy
  • Non-discrimination
  • Equal Opportunity
  • Accessibility
  • Copyright
  • Directory
  • The Pennsylvania State University © 2023
  • We Are Penn State