Globalization And Inequalities: Complexity And Contested Mod

Description:
How has globalization changed social inequality? Why do Americans die younger than Europeans, despite larger incomes? Is there an alternative to neoliberalism? Who are the champions of social democracy? Why are some countries more violent than others? In this groundbreaking book, Sylvia Walby examines the many changing forms of social inequality and their intersectionalities at both country and global levels. She shows how the contest between different modernities and conceptions of progress shape the present and future. The book re-thinks the nature of economy, polity, civil society and violence. It places globalization and inequalities at the centre of an innovative new understanding of modernity and progress and demonstrates the power of these theoretical reformulations in practice, drawing on global data and in-depth analysis of the US and EU. Walby analyses the tensions between the different forces that are shaping global futures. She examines the regulation and deregulation of employment and welfare; domestic and public gender regimes; secular and religious polities; path dependent trajectories and global political waves; and, global inequalities and human rights. Globalization and Inequalities is essential reading for upper level undergraduate and postgraduate students and academics of sociology, social theory, gender studies and politics and international relations, geography, economics and law.

Review:
What an important book this is! By using the tools complexity theory offers, Walby dismantles the conservative versions of systems theory and provides a new way of approaching the dynamics of intersectional change. Her view of system environment interactions with both stabilizing and destabilizing feedback loops is itself theoretically rich. Walby then uses this model generate significant insights into the contested nature of modernity and the diverse ways that social democratic and liberal states have constructed equality and inequality. Her theoretical model will prove to be an essential resource for researchers concerned with understanding and steering social change Myra Marx Ferree University of Wisconsin-Madison

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In this wide-ranging book, Sylvia Walby deploys her vast knowledge and wealth of research to break from inherited paradigms and to tackle the major challenges of globalization Michael Burawoy University of California, Berkeley

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Though as critical about the feminist critiques of social theory as she is about social theory itself, in this landmark work Sylvia Walby does not stop at outlining the mistakes in both. Aside from unpacking the conflations that hinder our understanding of the social and political world, she presents an intricate, comprehensive new social theory and explains its major premises and innovations carefully and precisely. She focuses on the dynamics and complexities of social relations, integrating in these dynamics the role of complex inequalities (class, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation). Then, as a grand dessert, the book not only delivers a convincing first empirical test to Walby's new theory, but also dares to take a normative position, all without resorting to hegemony. As a whole the book is all-encompassing yet open-minded, filled with arguments small and large for further development, or contention, inspiring impulses for active social science professionals of all kinds. The book is also a good starting point for discussions questioning the nature or possibility of social progress. Enabling innovative understandings of age-old complexities through brand-new empirical and normative questions and answers, this book will and should affect all research in social sciences Mieke Verloo Radboud University Nijmegen and the IWM, Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction: Progress and modernities What is Progress? More money or longer life? Progress as a contested project Economic development Equality Human Rights Human development, well-being and capabilities Competing projects: neoliberalism and social democracy Contesting conceptions of progress Conclusions Multiple Complex Inequalities Introduction Multiple and intersecting inequalities Complex inequalities: difference, inequality and progress Modernity? Postmodernity? Not yet Modern? Varieties of Modernity? Introduction Modernity or postmodernity? Late, second or liquid modernity? Multiple modernities? Not yet modern? Varieties of modernity Defining modernity Globalization Introduction Globalization as the erosion of distinctive and separate societies Resistant to globalization Already global Coevolution of global processes with trajectories of development Implications of globalization for social theory Complexity Theory The Book 2. Theorising multiple social systems Introduction Multiple Inequalities and Intersectionality Regimes and Domains System and Its Environment: Over-Lapping, Non-Saturating, Non-Nested Systems Societalisation not Societies Emergence and Projects Bodies, Technologies and the Social Path Dependency Co-evolution of Complex Adaptive Systems in Changing Fitness Landscapes Wave Conclusions 3. Economies Introduction Redefining the Economy Domestic Labour as Labour State Welfare as part of the Economy What are Economic Inequalities? What is Progress in the Economy? From Pre-Modern to Modern: The Second Great Transformation Global Processes and Economic Inequalities What global processes? Country Processes Summary Varieties of Political Economy Varieties of employment relations Varieties of Welfare Provision Critical turning points into varieties of political economy Conclusions 4. Polities Introduction Reconceptualising Types of Polities Introduction States Nations Nation-States? Organised religions Empires Hegemon Global political institutions Polities Overlap and do not Politically Saturate a Territory Democracy Democracy and modernity Redefining democracy The development of democracy Conclusions 5. Violence Introduction Developing the Ontology of Violence Modernity and Violence Path Dependency in Trajections of Violence Global Conclusions 6. Civil societies Introduction Theorising Civil Society Modernity and Civil Society Civil Society Projects Global Civil Societies and Waves Examples of waves Conclusions 7. Regimes of complex inequality Introduction Beyond Class Regimes Gender Regimes Ethnic Regimes Further Regimes of Complex Inequalities Disability Sexual orientation Intersecting Regimes of Complex Inequality Conclusions 8. Varieties of modernity Introduction Neoliberal and Social Democratic Varieties of Modernity Path Dependency at the Economy/Polity Nexus? Welfare provision Conclusions on welfare Employment regulation Inequality Conclusions on political economy Path Dependency at the Violence Nexus Modernity and path dependency Indicators Development, inequality and violence Gendered violence Path dependency of the violence nexus in OECD countries Violence, economic inequality and the polity/economy nexus Conclusions on violence Gender Regime Public and domestic gender regimes Development and the public gender regime Domestic and public gender regimes and gender inequality Varieties of public gender regimes Democracy and Inequality Conclusions 9. Measuring progress Introduction Economic Development Equality Economic inequality Global economic inequality Beyond the household Economic inequalities and flows Economic inequalities in summary Inequalities in non-economic domains Democracy Human Rights Human Development, Well-Being and Capabilities Key Indicator Sets: What Indicators; What Underlying Concepts of Progress? Extending the Frameworks and Indicators of Progress: Where do Environmental Sustainability and Violence Fit? Environmental sustainability Violence Achievement of Visions of Progress: Comparing Neoliberalism and Social Democracy Economic development: neoliberalism vs. social democracy Equality: neoliberalism vs. social democracy Human rights: neoliberalism vs. social democracy Human development, well-being and capabilities: neoliberalism vs. social democracy Trade offs or complementary? Conclusions 10. Comparative paths through modernity: neoliberalism and social democracy Introduction Political Economy Introduction US Sweden UK Ireland Conclusions Violence US Sweden UK Ireland Conclusion Gender Transformations: The Emergence of Employed Women as the New Champions of Social Democracy Employed women as the new champions of social democracy Dampeners and Catalysts of Economic Growth: War and Gender Regime Transformations Conclusions 11. Contested futures Introduction Financial and Economic Crisis 2007-9 Contesting Hegemons and the Future of the World 12. Conclusions Introduction The Challenge of Complex Inequalities and Globalization to Social Theory