The Politics of Inequality
Subtitle: A Political History of the Idea of Economic Inequality in America
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: October 24, 2007
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 264
ISBN-13: 9780231140744
Subjects: Political structure & processes; Economic Theory; Political Science; Politics / Current Events; Politics/International Relations; USA; Economics - Macroeconomics; History & Theory - General; Political Science / History & Theory; Economic History; Economic policy; United States
Description: "In this impassioned book, Michael J. Thompson reaches back into America's rich intellectual history to reclaim the politics of inequality from the distortion of recent American conservatism. He begins by tracing the development of the idea of economic inequality as it has been conceived by political thinkers throughout American history. Then he considers the change in ideas and values that have led to the acceptance and occasional legitimization of economic divisions. Thompson argues that American liberalism has made a profound departure from its original practice of egalitarian critique. It has all but abandoned its antihierarchical and antiaristocratic discourse. Only by resuscitating this tradition can democracy again become meaningful to Americans."--BOOK JACKET.