The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die

Keith Payne is an American professor of psychology and neuroscience. His academic work focuses on how inequality shapes the human mind, how our environment shapes our decision-making processes, how we act in racially prejudiced ways despite our best intentions, and why feeling poor is more powerful than actually being poor. He uses the methods of experimental psychology to understand these cognitive processes and the emotions they generate. The Broken Ladder is his only book, and it is aimed at translating his academic work and research into a more accessible format that tackles pressing challenges in America.

Payne’s history gave him a personal interest in how inequality shapes our thinking and decision-making. Early in the book, Payne recounts the first time he learned that his family was poor. He learned this when a new lunch lady at his school, who did not realize that Payne was entitled to free lunches due to his low family income, asked him to pay for his lunch. Payne suddenly became hyperaware of how his family’s wealth and status were much lower than that of his peers, and this shaped how he saw them and himself. He quickly started noticing how the clothing and accessories worn by other children, as well as the specifics of their accent, marked them as being from a rich or poor family.