There has been much concern about rising levels of income inequality in the societies of advanced industrial democracies. Commentators have attributed this increase to the impact of globalization, the decline of the welfare state, or the erosion of the power of labor unions and their allies among left-wing political parties. But little attention has been paid to variations among these countries in the degree of inequality. This is the subject that Vicki Birchfield tackles in this ambitious book. Differences in political institutions have been seen by political scientists as one likely explanation, but Birchfield shows institutional variation to be only one part of the story. Deploying an original conceptualization of political economy as applied democratic theory, she makes the compelling case that cultural values—particularly citizens' attitudes about social justice and about the proper roles of the market and the state—need to be factored into any account that will provide an adequate explanation for the observable patterns. To support her argument, she brings to bear both multivariate statistical analyses and historical comparative case studies, making this book a model for how quantitative and qualitative research can be effectively combined to produce more complete explanations of political and socioeconomic phenomena.

Ellen Meiksins Wood argues that with the collapse of Communism the theoretical project of Marxism and its critique of capitalism is more timely and important than ever. Current intellectual fashions of the left which emphasise 'post-modern' fragmentation, 'difference', contingency and the 'politics of identity' can barely accommodate the idea of capitalism, let alone subject the capitalist system to critique. In this book she sets out to renew the critical programme of historical materialism by redefining its basic concepts and its theory of history in original and imaginative ways, using them to identify the specificity of capitalism as a system of social relations and political power. She goes on to explore the concept of democracy in both the ancient and modern world, examining the concept's relation to capitalism, and raising questions about how democracy might go beyond the limits imposed on it by capitalism.

This book revolves around one central question: do political dynamics have a systematic and predictable influence on distributional outcomes in the United States? The answer is a resounding yes. Utilizing data from mass income surveys, elite surveys and aggregate time series, as well as theoretical insights from both American and comparative politics, Kelly shows that income inequality is a fundamental part of the US macro political system. Shifts in public opinion, party control of government and the ideological direction of policy all have important consequences for distributional outcomes. Specifically, shifts to the left produce reductions in inequality through two mechanisms - explicit redistribution and market conditioning. Whereas many previous studies focus only on the distributional impact of redistribution, this book shows that such a narrow strategy is misguided. In fact, market mechanisms matter far more than traditional redistribution in translating macro political shifts into distributional outcomes.

The Oxford Handbook of Economic Inequality presents a new and challenging analysis of economic inequality, focusing primarily on economic inequality in highly developed countries. Bringing together the world's top scholars this comprehensive and authoritative volume contains an impressive array of original research on topics ranging from gender to happiness, from poverty to top incomes, and from employers to the welfare state. The authors give their view on the state-of-the-art of scientific research in their fields of expertise and add their own stimulating visions on future research. Ideal as an overview of the latest, cutting-edge research on economic inequality, this is a must have reference for students and researchers alike.

Democratization is the first textbook to focus on the "global wave of democratization" that has been occurring since around 1970. Bringing together leading authors from diverse international backgrounds, it introduces students to the theoretical and practical dimensions of the subject in an authoritative, accessible, and systematic way. The book takes into account the international factors that affect politics at the level of the nation state, showing students the direction in which the discipline is moving. It is accompanied by an innovative companion website that provides numerous resources for students and instructors. Democratization covers several key themes including: 1. Theories of democratization and their relation to democratic theory; 2. Critical prerequisites and driving social forces of democratic transition; 3. Pivotal actors and institutions involved in democratization; 4. Conditions for democratic survival, the consolidation of newly democratized countries, and the analysis of failed democratization; 5. Demonstrations of how these factors have played a role in the different regions in which the global wave of democratization has transplaced authoritarian and communist systems; 6. Possible futures of democratization worldwide.

A comprehensive survey of writings on democracy. It includes over 7000 entries, numbered and arranged alphabetically by author, and listed under at least one key descriptor. The coverage includes political science, international relations, development studies, law, economics and business.

CSA Sociological Abstracts abstracts and indexes the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. The database provides abstracts of journal articles and citations to book reviews drawn from over 1,800+ serials publications, and also provides abstracts of books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers.

Includes sections "Book reviews" and "Periodical literature."