Post-industrial capitalism : exploring economic inequality in America / Joel I. Nelson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nelson, Joel I.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--Economic conditions--1981-.

United States.

Economic conditions.

Capitalism--United States.

Capitalism.

Income distribution--United States.

Income distribution.

Poverty--United States.

Poverty.

Wealth--United States.

Wealth.

Physical Description:

193 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Thousand Oaks : Sage Publications, [1995]

Summary:

The social and economic well-being of many Americans is increasingly at risk. Disparities in earnings and wealth are escalating, reversing a century of declining inequality. Excesses of the free market are growing -- and growing more difficult to contain. Politics are increasingly conservative across the ideological spectrum, with economic competitiveness considered more important than equality and humanitarian aid.

Post-Industrial Capitalism offers an alternative to the dominant and unsuccessful Marxist and industrialist views by providing a framework for explaining the widening polarization within American society. This work demonstrates a more comprehensive explanation of inequality and locates its source in the transformation of American business. It provides a fresh illustration of Schumpeter's insistence on the ability of capitalism to develop by creatively destroying its past. It not only describes the shifts in corporate resources, illustrates their use by the corporate sector, and traces their implications for inequality across the institutional spectrum, but also demonstrates how these strategies have been used by companies to intensify competition, effect greater political control, and widen the economic gap in America.

Contents:

1. Post-Industrial Capitalism 1

The Case for Post-Industrial Capitalism: A Brief Introduction 3

American Class Structure: The Widening Gap 6

Knowledge and Inequality: The New Foundations of Contemporary Capitalism 12

Inequality and Competition in Post-Industrial Capitalism 25

Post-Industrial Capitalism and Classical Social Theory 28

Part 1 The Economy Under Post-Industrial Capitalism 33

2. Knowledge and Dead-End Jobs: The Janus Face of the Service Economy 37

Knowledge and Elites: The New Resources of Post-Industrial Capitalism 42

Rationalizing the Periphery: Growth, Inequality, Dead-End Jobs 53

3. The Widening Circle of Competition 71

Post-Industrial Capitalism and the New International Competition 73

The United States and the Developing World: Competition in International Markets 85

The New World Order and the Rise and Fall of Nations 92

Part 2 Politics Under Post-Industrial Capitalism 103

4. Unions, Politics, and the Frontiers of Social Control 105

Labor Union Decline 108

Working-Class Politics Under Post-Industrial Capitalism 120

5. The Privatization of Welfare and the Triumph of the Market 133

Economic Change and the Future of Social Welfare 135

The Privatization of Welfare: Across the Institutional Divide 138

Costs in Privatization: Facts and Myths 144

Evaluating Privatization: Problems and Difficulties 149

Postscript: Inequality Without Class Conflict 157.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 161-177) and index.

ISBN:

0803973322

0803973330

OCLC:

32428995