Interplay of inequality

Classes,
citizenship and inequality
Edited by
T K Oommen
Pearson
2011, pp 232
595

It is a compilation of essays which discusses new methodology for the analysis of financial inequality among the different sections of world population.

The authors of the essays included in the book have been drawn from two different social contexts: a developed European country (Germany) and a developing South Asian country (India). The studies have been based on history, culture, social structure, level of economic development and the nature of political regime.

In social science, the conventional method of analysis of inequality has been based on structures and processes. In the post-globalisation period, the tripartite division of the world into First, Second and Third has become obsolete and the theory of ‘one world’ has gained acceptance. However, the characteristic features of local and national social security have not disappeared under the common layer of global social reality.

The essays in the book analyses both general and specific features of social inequality. The book discusses how the categories — the working class, peasantry, middle class — and the nature of citizenship have changed over time and the effect of globalisation on these categories.

As stated by the author, in spite of the process of modernisation and the spread of democracy, cultural homogenisation within nation-states was accorded high priority. With the collapse of socialist states and the implementation of the structural adjustment programme, inequality between citizens within state-societies and also among groups and communities within them increased.

The conventional container model which endorsed the nation-state as the unit focused on inequality between classes and social categories and mostly ignored inequalities among the peasantry, working, middle and upper classes. The book addresses inequalities within these categories. The global age has changed the flow of capital and the direction of labour migration and sees the phenomenon of capital leaving its abode in search of cheap labour.

The affluent worker of the industrial north is a vanishing tribe and unemployment is also on the rise. While new employment opportunities are becoming available for the middle class, especially in the IT and communications sectors, they do not have much bargaining power with their foreign invisible employers. This increases their insecurity — economic and political.

The ‘brain drain’ of the Cold War era is replaced by ‘brain pool’ of the global age. The liberalisation of economy led to two interrelated phenomena — franchising and informalisation and both of these aggravate inequalities among classes and societies.

The book focuses on all aspects of inequalities and its effect on citizenship as it is widely believed that citizenship and quality are inextricably intertwined. The compilation of essays in the book discusses how the categories — working class, peasantry, middle class — and citizenship have changed over time, the specific forms they take in different countries and the limitations of citizenship in overcoming the inequalities.

The book also brings out the historical context of inequality among classes  and the social structural factors contributing to inequalities. The book is an important contribution in social science research and will be of interest to students, scholars of social science and policymakers.