Globalization and Inequalities
Complexity and Contested Modernities
1st Edition
Published on 23. July 2009
Book
Paperback/Softback
520 pages
978-0-8039-8518-6 (ISBN)
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.
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.
Reviews / Votes
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 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 to 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 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... 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 Having read her book, one can't help but see what was thought to be clear in new ways. Globalization and Inequalities is an impressive example of creativity realized on the one hand and a provocation to further creativity on the other... A major accomplishment. -- Devorah Kalekin-Fishman An ambitious and complex book, in which Walby proposes solutions for some enduring problems in sociological theory; in particular, problems in theorizing large complex systems, such as whole societies. -- Joan Acker This book is complex, stimulating and insightful and should be read by any scholar who is interested in multiple inequalities on a global scale. It can, at times, seem a little overwhelming, but this is a reflection of its complexity. The book makes an enormous contribution not only to the intersectionality debate, but also encourages the reader to question whether we are yet 'fully modern' and what counts as 'progress'. As Walby argues, we are not yet modern when most states have not yet fully criminalized and delegitimized violence against women and minorities. -- Susan Durbin A tour de force that spans social theory and empirical research, seeks to persuade readers of the explanatory powers of complexity theory for the global era and places gender firmly at the centre of the analysis... Sylvia Walby's impressive study of complex inequalities in our globalized world offers not only a new set of concepts, propositions and empirical evidence, but a vision of the future based on a commitment to equality and justice. For that, we are in her debt. -- Val Moghadam Walby's book offers both an original theory and a discussion of indicators and findings on the basis of which the theory could become fruitful for empirical research. -- Anja WeissMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Thousand Oaks
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 170 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
891 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8039-8518-6 (9780803985186)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
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Person
Sylvia Walby is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and holds the UNESCO Chair in Gender Research, at Lancaster University. She is a 'public sociologist', engaged in research designed to have impact on the world, concerning gender inequality, violence and the economic crisis.
The UNESCO Chair in Gender Research Group, led by Walby, who has held the Chair since 2008, focuses on internationally relevant research on gender relations, and on building global networks for research and policy exchange on gender issues.
With colleagues, Walby has since 2008 obtained funding from: UK Economic and Social Research Council, Home Office, Equality and Human Rights Commission, Northern Rock Foundation, Trust for London, NSPCC; European Commission, European Parliament, European Institute for Gender Equality, EU Presidency, European Value Added Unit, the Council of Europe; UN Women, UNESCO; the New Zealand Ministry of Social Development, and the Canadian Ministry of Justice.
Walby was a member of the HEFCE REF2014 sub-panel for Sociology, a Director of the UK National Commission for UNESCO (2011-3), President of the International Sociological Association Research Committee 02 Economy and Society (2006-10), founding President of the European Sociological Association (1995-7), and Chair of the Women's Studies Network, UK (1989-90). She has been awarded an OBE for services to equal opportunities and diversity (2008), and made a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (2008) and of the Royal Society of Arts (1996). Teaching is currently focused on 'violence and society' (undergraduate) and 'gender and violence' (MA).
The UNESCO Chair in Gender Research Group, led by Walby, who has held the Chair since 2008, focuses on internationally relevant research on gender relations, and on building global networks for research and policy exchange on gender issues.
With colleagues, Walby has since 2008 obtained funding from: UK Economic and Social Research Council, Home Office, Equality and Human Rights Commission, Northern Rock Foundation, Trust for London, NSPCC; European Commission, European Parliament, European Institute for Gender Equality, EU Presidency, European Value Added Unit, the Council of Europe; UN Women, UNESCO; the New Zealand Ministry of Social Development, and the Canadian Ministry of Justice.
Walby was a member of the HEFCE REF2014 sub-panel for Sociology, a Director of the UK National Commission for UNESCO (2011-3), President of the International Sociological Association Research Committee 02 Economy and Society (2006-10), founding President of the European Sociological Association (1995-7), and Chair of the Women's Studies Network, UK (1989-90). She has been awarded an OBE for services to equal opportunities and diversity (2008), and made a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (2008) and of the Royal Society of Arts (1996). Teaching is currently focused on 'violence and society' (undergraduate) and 'gender and violence' (MA).
Content
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
Multiple Complex Inequalities
Multiple and intersecting inequalities
Complex inequalities: difference, inequality and progress
Modernity? Postmodernity? Not yet Modern? Varieties of Modernity?
Modernity or postmodernity?
Late, second or liquid modernity?
Multiple modernities?
Not yet modern?
Varieties of modernity
Defining modernity
Globalization
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
2. Theorising multiple social systems
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
3. Economies
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
Varieties of Political Economy
Varieties of employment relations
Varieties of Welfare Provision
Critical turning points into varieties of political economy
4. Polities
Reconceptualising Types of Polities
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
5. Violence
Developing the Ontology of Violence
Modernity and Violence
Path Dependency in Trajections of Violence
Global
6. Civil societies
Theorising Civil Society
Modernity and Civil Society
Civil Society Projects
Global Civil Societies and Waves
Examples of waves
7. Regimes of complex inequality
Beyond Class Regimes
Gender Regimes
Ethnic Regimes
Further Regimes of Complex Inequalities
Disability
Sexual orientation
Intersecting Regimes of Complex Inequality
8. Varieties of modernity
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
9. Measuring progress
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?
10. Comparative paths through modernity: neoliberalism and social democracy
Political Economy
Violence
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
Financial and Economic Crisis 2007-9
Contesting Hegemons and the Future of the World
12. Conclusions
The Challenge of Complex Inequalities and Globalization to Social Theory
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
Multiple Complex Inequalities
Multiple and intersecting inequalities
Complex inequalities: difference, inequality and progress
Modernity? Postmodernity? Not yet Modern? Varieties of Modernity?
Modernity or postmodernity?
Late, second or liquid modernity?
Multiple modernities?
Not yet modern?
Varieties of modernity
Defining modernity
Globalization
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
2. Theorising multiple social systems
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
3. Economies
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
Varieties of Political Economy
Varieties of employment relations
Varieties of Welfare Provision
Critical turning points into varieties of political economy
4. Polities
Reconceptualising Types of Polities
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
5. Violence
Developing the Ontology of Violence
Modernity and Violence
Path Dependency in Trajections of Violence
Global
6. Civil societies
Theorising Civil Society
Modernity and Civil Society
Civil Society Projects
Global Civil Societies and Waves
Examples of waves
7. Regimes of complex inequality
Beyond Class Regimes
Gender Regimes
Ethnic Regimes
Further Regimes of Complex Inequalities
Disability
Sexual orientation
Intersecting Regimes of Complex Inequality
8. Varieties of modernity
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
9. Measuring progress
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?
10. Comparative paths through modernity: neoliberalism and social democracy
Political Economy
Violence
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
Financial and Economic Crisis 2007-9
Contesting Hegemons and the Future of the World
12. Conclusions
The Challenge of Complex Inequalities and Globalization to Social Theory