Thomas M. Shapiro (born 1947) is a professor of Sociology and Public Policy at Brandeis University and is the author of The Hidden Cost of Being African American and the co-author of Black Wealth/White Wealth.

Additionally, and unlike existing readers on social inequality, Shapiro seeks to meld older, more famous texts (from authors such as Max Weber and W. E. B.

Drawing from interviews with 182 black, white and Latino families with school aged children in Boston, Los Angeles, and St. Louis, Shapiro argues that there continues to be a substantial racial wealth gap in the United States.

Shapiro focuses on the "big picture" of wealth dynamics in the United States and explores how family money effects racial inequality.

He coins the term "transformative assets" as money that is acquired through family that allows for social mobility beyond what their current income level would allow for.

In terms of racial equality, inherited wealth and housing discrimination limit educational and employment gains which have a huge impact on social mobility.

[5] More narrowly, Shapiro also focuses on the advantages that transformative assets have on the value of housing and the subsequent quality of neighborhoods and schools, to the additional benefit of whites and disadvantage of blacks.