Power and Inequality: A Comparative Introduction

This groundbreaking book examines the nature and implications of social inequality in a new and illuminating way. Gregg Olsen examines key measures of social inequality and indicators of poverty across six selected nations—three Anglo-American countries (US, UK, and Canada), and three Nordic nations (Finland, Norway, and Sweden). Olsen's research shows that while inequality is an inherent and pervasive aspect of capitalism, and while the past few decades have seen sharp rises in inequality across the industrialized world, nonetheless substantial variances between countries continue to exist. In those countries like the US that have most zealously embraced neoliberalism, inequality and poverty have been exacerbated to a much greater degree than is the case in the Nordic lands, which still rank among the most egalitarian of countries. This cross-national variation challenges many prominent classical and contemporary theoretical accounts of inequality, and suggests that high levels of social inequality are neither necessary nor inevitable in advanced capitalist societies. They are, rather, the product of constellations of power and the interactions of social forces. Human beings create social inequality, and human beings possess the power to reduce such inequities.