Inequality and the Fading of Redistributive Politics

All advanced democracies have faced the pressures of globalization,
technological change, and new family forms, which have generated higher
levels of inequality in market incomes. But countries have responded
differently, reflecting differences in their domestic politics. The
politics of who gets what and why is at the core of this volume, the
first to examine this question in an explicitly Canadian context.

In "Inequality and the Fading of Redistributive Politics, "
leading political scientists, sociologists, and economists point to the
failure of public policy to contain surging income inequality.
Government programs are no longer offsetting the growth in inequality
generated by the market, and Canadian society has become more unequal.
The redistributive state is fading due to powerful forces that have
reshaped the politics of social policy, including global economic
pressures, ideological change, shifts in the influence of business and
labour, changes in the party system, and the decline of
equality-seeking civil society organizations.

On one side, the organizations that speak for the economic interests
of lower-income Canadians - mobilizing resources, expertise, and
attention on their behalf - have been weakened. On the other
side, changes in the distribution of power within our political
institutions have made concerted action to tackle inequality more
difficult.

This volume demonstrates conclusively that action and inaction --
policy change and policy drift -- are at the heart of growing
inequality in Canada. Governments have not responded energetically to
the evidence and their indifference calls into question Canada's
record as a kinder, gentler nation.

Keith Banting is a professor in the School of
Policy Studies and the Department of Political Studies at Queen's
University and holds the Queen's Research Chair in Public
Policy. John Myles is a professor emeritus of
sociology and currently senior fellow in the School of Public Policy
and Governance at the University of Toronto.

Contributors: Robert Andersen, Robin Boadway,
Gerard W. Boychuk, William D. Coleman, Katherine Cuff, Josh Curtis,
David A. Good, David A. Green, Rodney Haddow, Jane Jenson, Richard
Johnston, Edward Koning, Rianne Mahon, Alain Noel, Susan D. Phillips,
Stuart Soroka, James Townsend, Carolyn Hughes Tuohy"