Gently Biting the Hand that Feeds: Popular Engagement with Economic Inequality after the Great Recession

Abstract

Purpose

A review of recent notable research on socioeconomic inequality, including Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2014), Rebecca Blank’s Changing Inequality (2011), Joseph Stiglitz’s The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future (2013), and Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett’s The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger (2010).

Methodology/approach

I critically compare the contributions of Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Joseph Stiglitz’s The Price of Inequality, Rebecca Blank’s Changing Inequality, and Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett’s The Spirit Level. The comparison is focused largely on discerning analytical trends in studies of inequality and differential relationships with capitalism.

Findings

Popular scholarship on inequality is surprisingly diverse with varying analytical approaches and conclusions represented. Each of the works was consistent with regard to important role of the state as a mitigating institution.

Practical implications

The intent of these works was to engage the general public on the subject of economic inequality. Thus, it is important to know what information is being disseminated in a general sense and how this “public political economy” might influence popular views on inequality.

Originality/value

Comparative reviews of scholarship intended for general popular consumption are rare. Postrecession economic realities have driven inequality to the fore in many advanced capitalist societies making such a review timely as well.

Citation

Blad, C. (2015), "Gently Biting the Hand that Feeds: Popular Engagement with Economic Inequality after the Great Recession", States and Citizens: Accommodation, Facilitation and Resistance to Globalization (Current Perspectives in Social Theory, Vol. 34), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 261-281. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0278-120420150000034011