This collection examines the realities of social inequality, providing critical analyses of contemporary issues at the center of national debate homelessness, the underclass, poverty, welfare, unemployment, health and mental health care, and gender and intercultural relations. A scholar and life-long activist, William Ryan's notions of 'blaming the victim' and 'fair shares vs. fair play' provide potent jumping-off points for the contributors' insights into the struggle for equality and social justice in the 1990s. Their call to unmask the underlying assumptions that sustain inequality offers a compelling challenge to the neoconservative strategy that dominates public debate and legislative agendas. Author note: M. Brinton Lykes is Associate Professor of Psychology, Boston College School of Education, and the co-editor of "Gender and Personality: Current Perspectives on Theory and Research". Ali Banuazizi is Professor of Psychology at Boston College and the author of "The New Geopolitics of Central Asia". Ramsay Liem is Professor of Psychology at Boston College and the co-author of "Social Contexts of Health, Illness, and Patient Care". Michael Morris is Professor of Psychology at the University of New Haven and the co-author of "Poverty and Public Policy".