Restoring the tradition of rigor and relevance to political science

by Lawrence R. Jacobs, University of Minnesota Theda Skocpol, Harvard University A merican society has witnessed an extraor dinary widening of economic inequality in the period since World War II that is unmatched among advanced industrialized countries. In 2003, the most affluent fifth received 47.6% of family income, the middle class (the third and fourth fifths) eamed 15.5% and 23.3%, respec tively, while the bottom two quintiles each re ceived less than 10%. (Twenty-one percent of family income went to the top 5%.) In other words, the richest 20% obtained nearly half of the country's income. That income (and wealth) is unevenly distributed is neither new nor nec essarily disturbing. What is remarkable is the large and unmistakable increase in the concen tration of income at the top (Mishel, Bernstein, and Allegretto 2005). The concentration of income and wealth in the hands of a relatively small segment of the country over the past three decades is an indis putable fact widely documented by a host of authoritative sources including the Internal Rev enue Service, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Con gressional Budget Office, and the Luxembourg Income Study. The debate is not over whether this degree of income disparity exists, but over the sources and significance of widening eco nomic inequality. Large and growing numbers of economists, sociologists, social epidemiologists, and other analysts are now focused on studying the origins and impacts of rising inequality in wealth and income. A critical part of the widening investigation of rising economic inequality concerns its im pacts on American democracy. For political scientists and many thoughtful Americans, these recent trends raise the question of what impact, if any, rising inequalities have on polit ical participation, govemance, and the role of government in either mitigating or exacerbating social, economic, and political inequalities. The American Political Science Association (APSA) convened the Task Force on Inequality and American Democracy during the presi dency of Theda Skocpol to examine what, if any, impact rising economic inequality had on political voice, governing, and public policy. The Task Force was chaired by Lawrence Ja cobs. Under our leadership, the Task Force reviewed and assessed the best current scholar ship about the health and functioning of U.S. democracy over recent decades. It concluded that the privileged participate more than others and are increasingly well organized to press their demands on government. Public officials, in turn, are much more responsive to the privi leged than to average citizens and the least af fluent. Citizens with lower or moderate incomes speak with a whisper that is lost on the ears of inattentive government officials, while the advantaged roar with a clarity and consistency that policymakers readily hear and routinely follow. The scourge of overt discrimi nation against African Americans and women has been replaced by a more subtle but potent threat-the growing concentration of the country's wealth, income, and political influ ence in the hands of the few.' Here we discuss the process that guided the operation of the Task Force and the longstand ing tradition of political science research that the Task Force continues. Although the Task Force has identified very important themes in the existing research, we are humbled by the great number of critical questions that remain. We conclude by discussing some of these.