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A pioneering book that takes us beyond economic debate to show how inequality is returning us to a past dominated by empires, dynastic elites, and ethnic divisions. The economic facts of inequality are clear. The rich have been pulling away from the rest of us for years, and the super-rich have been pulling away from the rich. More and more assets are concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. Mainstream economists say we need not worry; what matters is growth, not distribution. In The Return of Inequality, acclaimed sociologist Mike Savage pushes back, explaining inequality’s profound deleterious effects on the shape of societies. Savage shows how economic inequality aggravates cultural, social, and political conflicts, challenging the coherence of liberal democratic nation-states. Put simply, severe inequality returns us to the past. By fracturing social bonds and harnessing the democratic process to the strategies of a resurgent aristocracy of the wealthy, inequality revives political conditions we thought we had moved beyond: empires and dynastic elites, explosive ethnic division, and metropolitan dominance that consigns all but a few cities to irrelevance. Inequality, in short, threatens to return us to the very history we have been trying to escape since the Age of Revolution. Westerners have been slow to appreciate that inequality undermines the very foundations of liberal democracy: faith in progress and trust in the political community’s concern for all its members. Savage guides us through the ideas of leading theorists of inequality, including Marx, Bourdieu, and Piketty, revealing how inequality reimposes the burdens of the past. At once analytically rigorous and passionately argued, The Return of Inequality is a vital addition to one of our most important public debates.

Income distribution --- Social change --- Regression (Civilization) --- Equality --- History --- Bourdieu. --- Cultural capital. --- Elites. --- Empire. --- Income. --- Inequality. --- Meritocracy. --- Piketty. --- Racism. --- Sexism. --- Social class. --- Social sustainability. --- Wealth.

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In this book Jo Littler argues that meritocracy is the key cultural means of legitimation for contemporary neoliberal culture - and that whilst it promises opportunity, it in fact creates new forms of social division. Against Meritocracy is split into two parts. Part I explores the genealogies of meritocracy within social theory, political discourse and working cultures. It traces the dramatic U-turn in meritocracy's meaning, from socialist slur to a contemporary ideal of how a society should be organised. Part II uses a series of case studies to analyse the cultural pull of popular 'parables of progress', from reality TV to the super-rich and celebrity CEOs, from social media controversies to the rise of the 'mumpreneur'. Paying special attention to the role of gender, 'race' and class, this book provides new conceptualisations of the meaning of meritocracy in contemporary culture and society.

Social mobility. --- Plutocracy. --- Power (Social sciences) --- Mobility, Social --- Sociology --- Political science --- Empowerment (Social sciences) --- Political power --- Exchange theory (Sociology) --- Social sciences --- Consensus (Social sciences) --- Media & Communications --- Meritocracy --- Social mobility --- Neoliberalism --- Upward mobility --- Social inequality

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Meritocracy refers to any social system in which the allocation of opportunities and rewards is determined by merit. This volume draws together contributions that explore efforts to implement meritocracy in the political and educational realm in China and India, both historically and in the present. Contributors explore the philosophical underpinnings of meritocracy in the two societies, historical efforts to implement meritocracy according to culturally specific definitions of merit, contemporary debates about how to overcome obstacles to meritocracy such as the power of inherited privilege, and prognoses for the future. Our overall message is that debates over meritocracy are not novel aspects of modern industrial society but an unconscious echo chamber of questions that have been explored in other societies and at other times. Contemporary debates about meritocracy and affirmative action in the United States are far from historically unique. The entrenchment of privilege-instrumentally and cognitively-and affirmative action to attempt to remedy this can be found much more broadly. The chapters open up ways of thinking about meritocracy for non-elites as well as urge us to think through issues related to the measurement of merit and the uses and abuses of technology to alleviate some of the flaws of past attempts to instill greater meritocracy. Meritocracy appears to always be a work in progress. Its proponents must content themselves with "making" meritocracy rather than seeing it fully "made."

China --- meritocracy --- Social stratification --- Power (Social sciences) --- Merit (Ethics) --- History. --- Empowerment (Social sciences) --- Political power --- Exchange theory (Sociology) --- Political science --- Social sciences --- Sociology --- Consensus (Social sciences) --- Stratification, Social --- Equality --- Social structure --- Social classes --- Desert (Ethics) --- Moral desert (Ethics) --- Ethics

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This open access book consists of essays written by Kishore Mahbubani to explore the challenges and dilemmas faced by the West and Asia in an increasingly interdependent world village and intensifying geopolitical competition. The contents cover four parts: Part One The End of the Era of Western Domination. The major strategic error that the West is now making is to refuse to accept this reality. The West needs to learn how to act strategically in a world where they are no longer the number 1. Part Two The Return of Asia. From the years 1 to 1820, the largest economies in the world were Asian. After 1820 and the rise of the West, however, great Asian civilizations like China and India were dominated and humiliated. The twenty-first century will see the return of Asia to the center of the world stage. Part Three The Peaceful Rise of China. The shift in the balance of power to the East has been most pronounced in the rise of China. While this rise has been peaceful, many in the West have responded with considerable concern over the influence China will have on the world order. Part Four Globalization, Multilateralism and Cooperation. Many of the world’s pressing issues, such as COVID-19 and climate change, are global issues and will require global cooperation to deal with. In short, human beings now live in a global village. States must work with each other, and we need a world order that enables and facilitates cooperation in our global village.

Politics & government --- International relations --- US-China Relations --- Western Decline --- Asia Rising --- China in the 21st Century --- Plutocracy and Meritocracy --- International Institutions --- COVID-19 Pandemic --- Geopolitical Contest --- Globalization and Governance --- Competition or Coexistence --- Open Access --- Asia --- Politics and government. --- Economic conditions --- Foreign relations --- Asian and Pacific Council countries --- Eastern Hemisphere --- Eurasia

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This book empirically maps the decline in standards since the inauguration of Irish independence in 1922, to the loss of Irish economic sovereignty in 2010. It argues that the definition of corruption is an evolving one. As the nature of the state changes, so too does the type of corruption. New evidence is presented on the early institutional development of the state. Irish public life was motivated by an ethos which rejected patronage. Original research provides fresh insights into how the policies of economic protectionalism and discretionary decision making led to eight Tribunal inquires.

Political corruption --- Boss rule --- Corruption (in politics) --- Graft in politics --- Malversation --- Political scandals --- Politics, Practical --- Corruption --- Misconduct in office --- Corrupt practices --- Ireland --- Politics and government --- Augustine Birrell. --- Dublin Castle. --- Fianna Fáil. --- Irish economic sovereignty. --- Irish independence. --- Irish party. --- National Coalition government. --- Tribunal trilogy. --- beef industry. --- clandestine influence. --- economic protectionalism policy. --- export "as. --- legitimate entitlement. --- meritocracy. --- planning permission. --- political corruption. --- political favouritism. --- post-independent Ireland. --- privatisation process. --- state sponsored bodies.