The breaking of the American social compact
By: Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward.
Contributors: Cloward, Richard A.
Publisher: New Press; Distributed by Norton
Published: 1997
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 452
Subjects: Social contract.; Working class -- United States.; United States -- Social conditions -- 1960-1980.; United States -- Social conditions -- 1980-; United States -- Politics and government -- 20th century.
Description: Piven and Cloward demonstrate that under the banner of "globalization," a mobilized American business class is driving down wages and benefits, breaking unions, weakening civil rights, and slashing programs that protect the disadvantaged - all at a time when income and wealth inequality has reached historic extremes.

They argue that business elites' claim that ordinary people must make due with less because of the imperatives of the global markets is a hoax, and that the effort to dismantle the social compact should instead be understood as an ideologically powered political mobilization by business.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.