The Science of Dignity

Steven Hitlin is a sociological social psychologist whose work spans morality, self and identity, the life course, and social theory. Before his faculty position at Iowa, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is author or co-author for several books and academic articles including Unequal Foundations: Inequality, Morality and Emotions Across Cultures (Oxford) and Moral Selves, Evil Selves: The Social Psychology of Conscience (Palgrave Macmillan). Matthew A. Andersson is a sociologist who studies health inequalities across the life course. His research has been published in numerous publications in leading journals in the social and population health sciences. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University and a Presidential Graduate Research Fellow at The University of Iowa. He serves on the editorial boards of Society and Mental Health and Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.

Acknowledgments

Introduction
More than a Feeling: Dignity and Health Inequalities in America

Chapter One
A Wide-Ranging Tour of Perspectives on Dignity

Chapter Two
Seeing Circles: Dignity as a Public Health Issue

Chapter Three
Beyond Reason: Finding Dignity in Social Relations

Chapter Four
American Capitalism and its Multifaceted Links to Dignity

Chapter Five
Measuring Dignity Subjectively: Methodology for 2017 and 2021 Gallup Data

Chapter Six
Dignity as an Efficient Indicator of Social and Moral Integration

Chapter Seven
Is a Dignified Life a Healthier Life?

Chapter Eight
A Resource-Based Framework for Analyzing Levels of Dignity

Chapter Nine
Inequality and Stress: Charting Dignity During Social Adversity

Chapter Ten
One Polarized Nation: Dignity Across Political Ideologies

Conclusion
Moving Forward: Dignity's Role in Collective Consensus and Social Inspiration

References

Index