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.
This volume demonstrates conclusively that action and inaction -- policy change and policy drift -- are at the heart of growing inequality, calling 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 Noël, Susan D. Phillips, Stuart Soroka, James Townsend, Carolyn Hughes Tuohy