This course is an introduction to the research on income and wealth inequality. The first part of the course presents a primer on the methodology of political economy (compared and contrasted to neoclassical economics) and a brief primer on economic history, setting the stage for the present day. The second part comprises a study of academic debates as to the nature of inequality within the economics literature, ranging from classical political economists (Smith, Ricardo, Marx) through the works of 19th and 20th-century economists (Keynes, Pareto, Kuznets, Piketty, Shaikh). This section is largely focused on contrasting class-centered approaches with other approaches. The third and final part explores sources of inequality that have received inadequate focus within the literature - with a particular focus on colonialism/post-colonialism and the construction of the concept of race in that context. The course will also analyze statistical measures of wealth and income inequality through both a practical and critical lens.