While national incomes figures may seem to show economic equality, Urban Studies lecturer Andrew Lamas believes statistics on American wealth demonstrate vast inequality.
Lamas used the 2002 Census report to back up his point.
While white households, on average, earn about 50 percent more than black households, the average net worth of a white household is 10 times that of a black household.
He stressed that wealth is a better indicator of inequality than income.
Lamas said that inequality is made worse by the exertion of power by the wealthy. He added that space is acquired by those with power without acknowledging the claim of previous occupants.
To illustrate his point, he discussed the United States' takeover of Iraqi oil fields.
Lamas said that despite pressure from academics, the American government did not give oil revenue to local Iraqis.
Lamas was among those who lobbied with Colin Powell to set up a permanent trust for Iraqis living around oil wells.
The idea, he said, was never implemented.
"Five-year-olds understand the importance of possession. Grown-ups don't," he said.
Lamas said that while workers create a large amount of capital through their labor, they receive small salaries. Business owners receive the actual wealth derived from workers' economic activity.
Workers should have a greater stake in the capital they create, Lamas said.
He talked about symbolic capital, or the way people use a certain event to advance their own message.
Rosa Parks achieved cult status in the United States by sitting in a space reserved for white passengers on a bus.
The legendary photograph most people associate with the event was actually taken two years after Parks' arrest, once the buses had been integrated.
What is not generally discussed is that 40 other women also participated in such demonstrations, Lamas said. Rosa Parks' action was the culmination of a long chain of events that took place before the incident.
The audience felt enlightened by the talk.
"His presentation was very revealing. I wonder how it would apply to Penn and its responsibility?" College senior Elizabeth Curtis-Bey asked.
